»' .0' 
























!^^ ,r 













•/ 





^^°^ 



IT HAPPENED IN 



NASHVILLE. TENNESSEE 



A CoUedion of Historical IncidenU which Occurred 

in Nashville, are Commemorated there, or in 

which Nashville People were A<5ton 



COMPILED FOR THE INDUSTRIAL BUREAU OF THAT QTY 



BY 

W. E. BEARD 



f^^ 



CCI.A312688 



'->? 



1^ 



^ "^-^ CONTENTS 



French Royalty in Pioneer Nashville 5 

The Visit of Blennerhassett ^ 

Jackson's Duel with Dickinson 7 

Houston's Duel with Gen. White 10 

Aboriginal Belle of Tennessee 11 

Carroll's Duel with Jesse Benton 16 

President Polk's Eagle Quill Pen 20 

Mummy a Nashville Editor's Reward 22 

Brother of Napoleon's Marshal 24 

Grant Called to Command the Armies 27 

A Schoolgirl Before a Military Court 28 

The Typewriter in Telegraphy 29 

Feat of an Old Nashville Paper 31 

The "Fool Warrior" of Indian Days 33 

LaFayette's Narrow Escape 34 

*'Grey-EyedMan of Destiny" 36 

''Great Land Pirate" at the Bar 40 

He Named the Flag "Old Glory" 42 

Horse Race of Many Mishaps 43 

The Indian Ward of Gen. Jackson 45 

Two Days' Battle about Nashville 46 

A Lock of "Old Hickory's" Hair 49 

The Gold Box of Gen. Jackson 50 

Gunboat NashviHe Opened a War 52 

Eventful Voyage of "The Adventure" 53 

Gift of the Cherokee Princess 56 

The Overland Mail 58 

Nashville in a Receiver's Hands 60 

Nashville Saved by the Dogs 61 

Hood's Tribute to a Girl 62 

Sam Davis, The Boy Hero 63 



FRENCH ROYALTY IN PIONEER NASHVILLE. 

Nashville's earliest visitors of note came in 1797. 
They were the three French princes— Louis Philippe d'Or- 
leans, aged 24; Count de Montpensier and Count Beau- 
jolais— whose father, the Duke of Orleans, had been 
guillotined in October, 1793. They were in exile from 
their own land, the horrors of whose Revolution were 
still fresh in the world's memory. Louis Philippe became 
King of France. The ashes of Count Montpensier have 
slept for generations in Westminster Abbey, in London. 

Bent upon a study of the resources and conditions of 
the new republic, Washington was applied to by them for 
an American itinerary, and the father of his country 
drew in red ink on a pocket map the route for their jour- 
ney. Travel through the sparsely settled country in 1797 
was a matter of much hardship, the journey being made 
on "horseback. At certain points smoked bear's grease 
and Indian corn served to satisfy the hunger of the 
young Bourbons; drenching rains sometimes occurred, 
beds were scarce, and a cup of coffee was a rarity. In 
East Tennessee Louis Philippe, having had a fall from 
his horse, bled himself with such good results that he 
was invited to operate on a venerable chief of an Indian 
tribe. This operation, too, was highly successful. 

The princes reached Nashville May 10, 1797. It was 
court week in the future capital of Tennessee, and the 
royal visitors were forced to sleep three in a bed, their 
temporary abode while here being at the house of Cap- 
tain Maxwell. While in Nashville they were guests at 
dinner of an Englishman. ^ 

On May 13 the princes pushed forward to Louisville, 



6 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

a well filled tin canteen being a souvenir of their stay 
in Nashville. 

Authority: The diary of Louis Philippe, as published in the 
Century in September, 1901, by Jane Marsh Parker. 



^ ¥it m 



THE VISIT OF BLENNERHASSETT. 

There is no more tragic figure in American history 
than Harman Blennerhassett. 

"A native of Ireland/' said William Wirt at the trial 
in Richmond, "a man of letters who fled from the storms 
of his own country to find quiet in ours. * * * pQg. 
sessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears 
upon it a palace, and decorates it with every romantic 
embellishment of fancy. A shrubbery that Shenstone 
might have envied blooms around him ; music that might 
have charmed Calypso and her nymphs is his. An ex- 
tensive library spreads its treasures before him. A phil- 
osophical apparatus offers to him all the secrets and mys- 
teries of nature. Peace, tranquility, and innocence shed 
their mingled delights around him. And to crown the 
enchantment of the scene, a wife who is said to be lovely 
even beyond her sex, and graced with every accomplish- 
ment that can render it irresistible, had blessed him with 
her love and made him the father of several children." 

The peace and contentment of his early surroundings 
Blennerhassett lost through his association with the plans 
of Aaron Burr. Discharged from arrest in Mississippi 
territory, after a dreary wintry voyage down the western 
waters, and hearing of the desolation of his island home 
in the Ohio by the Virginia militia, the unfortunate ad- 
venturer hurried homeward over the old Natchez Trace, 
then the connecting highway between Nashville and the 
Southwest. His course impeded by heavy rainfalls^ and 
himself tortured by bodily pains and forebodings of ill 
fortune, somewhere in the vicinity of Nashville an over- 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 7 

shadowing misfortune befell him. He lost his wife's 
picture. 

Writing from Nashville June 29, 1807, to his help- 
meet — a woman whose charms of person have a place in 
the traditions of the country — the unhappy traveler said : 

"My yet last and greatest misfortune was visited upon 
me — the treasure, the greatest after yourself and the 
boys, I could have in this world; for if I do not recover 
it, it is irreparable — how shall I mention it? I lost your 
second self. Joe sets out twenty miles back, tomorrow 
early, in quest of it, where we have some hope of re- 
covering it. Oh! had Mrs. Alston (Theodosia Burr), 
by one of the best impulses that ever actuated her, had 
she purloined it, how consoling would be the prospect 
of my journey; it would animate me to visit it. How, 
my love, will you soothe this heaviest of my sorrows? I 
have complained to you of none until this overtook me." 

So far as Mr. Blennerhassett's letters to his wife show, 
the picture was never found, though the traveler adver- 
tised for it in Nashville, offering a $10 reward, and had 
other runners besides his faithful Joe out searching. 

To recompense him for the loss, his wife forwarded 
the picture of their two boys. His first letter to his wife 
after leaving Nashville, Blennerhassett wrote from the 
jail at Lexington. The trial at Richmond followed, and 
when released from custody at last, it was as an utterly 
ruined man. He died from a stroke of paralysis on the 
island of Guernsey February 1, 1831, his head in death 
resting upon the bosom of his devoted wife. 

^ * ^ 



JACKSON'S DUEL WITH DICKINSON. 

Among all the biographers of Andrew Jackson, sev- 
enth President of the United States and hero of New 
Orleans — and they have been numerous in recent years — 
none perhaps have ever seen the grave of his opponent 
in the duel — Charles Dickinson. 



8 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The grave, surmounted by an old-fashioned box tomb, 
placed there by his grandson, is upon what is known now 
as the Whitworth property, a part of what formerly be- 
longed to Dickinson's father-in-law, Joseph Erwin, a 
wealthy planter of Nashville in the days of its infancy. 

Dickinson died near the scene of the duel with Jack- 
son, some hours after the encounter. His remains were 
brought back to Nashville and interred upon one of the 
highest points of his father-in-law's extensive estate, his 
funeral, according to the custom of the time, taking 
place some weeks after his death. At the time of his 
duel, Dickinson's family consisted of a young wife and 
an infant child. The latter, grown to manhood two gen- 
erations ago, placed around the lonely grave in the wood- 
land a cedar fence, which in the course of time was sup- 
planted by the box tomb now covering the grave. 

When the tomb was placed there has passed from the 
memory of the oldest citizen of Nashville, where few 
there are indeed who know the locality of the grave. The 
tomb stands in the comer of a small inclosure about a 
small dwelling house not far from the Golf and Country 
Club, on the Harding Road. Beside it grows a hack- 
berry tree, and one corner of the old tomb has sunk six 
inches or more, attesting to its age. There is no mark 
upon it to tell whose body lies beneath the tomb, but it 
is a well established fact that the grave is Dickinson's. 
Years ago a party of young students evolved the idea 
of raiding the grave at night, disinterring the remains 
and securing the bullet which penetrated from one side 
of Dickinson's body to the other, stopping where it could 
be felt beneath the skin. This extraordinary scheme was 
not carried into execution, and so far as the world knows 
the bones of Dickinson have long since become dust. 

Following is the newspaper account of the duel print- 
ed in Nashville's newspaper at the time: 

"On Friday, the 23rd. ultimo, Gen. Andrew Jackson 
came into this office, and told the editor that he had re- 
ceived information that Mr. Charles Dickinson was about 
to have a piece published which respected himself, and 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 9 

demanded a sight of it; his request was complied with; 
a few hours after which, we are informed, the General 
challenged Mr. Dickinson, which was accepted, and a 
meeting agreed upon in the State of Kentucky, on the 
Friday following (May 30, 1806), at 7 o'clock a. m. 
They accordingly met with their friends, Gen. Thomas 
Overton and Dr. Hanson Catlett, near Col. Harrison's 
on Red River, at the hour appointed; where upon ex- 
change of fire Mr. Dickinson received a mortal wound, 
of which he died in a few hours. Gen. Jackson was 
slightly wounded by the ball passing through his left 
breast." 

The duel grew out of a forfeited horse race between 
Gen. Jackson's horse, Truxton, sired by Diomede, winner 
of the first English Derby, and Ploughboy, the horse of 
Capt. Joseph Erwin^ Dickinson's father-in-law. The Er- 
win side satisfied the forfeit, but busy trouble makers 
stirred up a question about the notes with which the for- 
feiture was paid, and brought about a bitter quarrel. 
In the course of that quarrel, Thomas Swann, a young 
lawyer lately arrived from Powhatan County, Virginia, 
challenged Jackson to a duel, and Jackson caned Swann 
in the old Wynn tavern. On March 1, John Coffee, a 
devoted friend of Jackson, met Nathaniel A. McNairy 
of the other faction on the field of honor across the Ken- 
tucky border. The closing chapter of the embroglio was 
the tragic meeting between Jackson and Dickinson which 
cost the latter his life. The wound received by the for- 
mer troubled him as long as he lived. 

In the midst of the turmoil which disturbed the com- 
munity, the two horses at last met, running the two mile 
heats at Clover Bottom, on the present road to the Her- 
mitage, Truxton winning without the aid of whip or 
spur, though running, as "Old Hickory" put it, on "only 
tw'o legs." 



10 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 



HOUSTON'S DUEL WITH GEN. WHITE. 

Three years before he severed his connection with the 
pubHc Hfe of Tennessee by abruptly resigning the office 
of Governor, Sam Houston^ Texas' commander in her 
war for independence, fought his only duel. His oppo- 
nent was Gen. Will White, a member of Jackson's staff 
in the old Creek War. 

Houston represented the Hermitage District in Con- 
gress at the time, and the trouble grew out of the post 
office appointment at Nashville. Houston in his fight 
over the appointment went so far as to assail the private 
character of John P. Erwin, the successful applicant. 
When he returned home, Erwin sought satisfaction. 
His note was borne by Col. John T. Smith, of Missouri, 
a man exceedingly well versed in the use of firearms. 
Houston declined to receive such a communication from 
the hands of a non-resident. Smith narrated Houston's 
objection to Gen. White, who suggested that the note 
be tendered again in the presence of a witness. He was 
solicited to be a witness, and accepted. Houston was 
found in front of the old Nashville Inn, whose site at 
the corner of Second Avenue, North, and the north side 
of the Public Square is today marked by a tablet. 

A colloquy ensued between Houston and White, and 
the ground for the duel was laid. A " challenge from 
White followed, and the two met at sunrise, September 
28., 1826, on the Duncan farm, in Simpson County, Ky., 
200 yards from the Tennessee border. White, who of- 
fered a mark that any random shot might hit, was griev- 
ously wounded, Houston's ball almost passing through 
his body. The wound, however, was not fatal. 

The Simpson County grand jury indicted Houston on 
the charge of shooting with intent to kill, but nothing 
ever came of it, Houston taxing his political enemies 
with the procedure, their aim being to injure him in his 
race for Governor. 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 11 



ABORIGINAL BELLE OF TENNESSEE. 

What of the prehistoric residents of Nashville? 

Over a hundred years ago, a Tennessean, widely 
known and esteemed at home and elsewhere, peeped be- 
hind the veil of mystery and left an account of what he 
saw equal in impetus to interest to the visionary inspira- 
tion of any novelist. 

In the earlier half of the nineteenth century there 
lived in Middle Tennessee a gentleman, Charles Casse- 
dy. In his later years, at least, probably before, he was 
a man without fortune and without home of his own; 
but his mental attainments were of such high order that 
in any home in Tennessee he was a welcome guest, and 
that for as long a period as he elected to remain. He 
was the friend and correspondent of the first men of his 
time, and he himself had some place in the history of 
Tennessee. 

"Some time in the month of January, 1811," wrote 
Mr. Cassedy in 1829^ "whilst residing in the city of 
Nashville, Mr. Thomas Eastin, at that period the editor 
of the public journal entitled 'The Examiner,' exhibited 
to me for correctional inspection a manuscript sheet, 
badly written and worse composed, purporting to be an 
account for publication of some human bodies which had 
been recently discovered in a state of interment and 
preservation in a cavern in the County of Warren and 
State of Tennessee. The narrative stated in substance 
that the bodies were two in number, male and female; 
that they were severally enshrouded in a variety of en- 
velopes, some of which were of uncommon material and 
extraordinary texture; that they were enclosed in sepa- 
rate coffins, and in a state of entire preservation, al- 
though bearing unequivocal marks of great antiquity, etc. 
etc. Assuming no responsibility whatever for the au- 
thenticity of the statement, yet presuming that the Amer- 
ican public would feel an interest in anything relating 



12 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

to the antiquities of the West, the substance of the nar- 
rative was thrown into form, and given to the world, 
without comment, coloring or distortion, in the columns 
of the Examiner, where it may yet be found. This pub- 
lication, as might be expected from a narrative of rather 
an extraordinary character, and anonymously written, 
gave rise to much vague speculation, sapient incredulity 
and grave conjecture. 

"In the month of April of the same year (1811), I 
communicated to Dr. John R. Bedford, lately deceased, 
all the facts connected with the obtainment of the manu- 
script, on which the publication in the Examiner had 
been founded, and stated to him candidly my opinions. 
He was a man of much philosophical research, and of 
a refined and scientific mind, and although somewhat 
skeptical in his opinions on points not clearly demon- 
strable, was much to be relied on for the keenness of 
his mental perceptions and the liberal extension of his 
views. He stated to me that, notwithstanding- the state 
of public opinion^ which was often regulated by the 
shrewd speculations of ignorance, the matter was worthy 
of further investigation, as connected with the aboriginal 
history of the country, in which future generations would 
feel more interested than the present ; and that if I would 
attempt a more ample and satisfactory investigation of 
the subject, he would aflford me every facility in his 
power. Knowing that I had some business to transact 
at the eastward, and that by deviating a little from the 
route intended to be pursued in the journey , the cave 
might be visited and the bodies themselves examined, 
he proffered to accompany me that distance. 

"We found the cavern, if such it might be called, 
within a few hundred yards of the bank of the Caney 
Fork of the Cumberland River, in a country remarkable 
for the ruggedness of its aspect, and the lofty and ab- 
rupt acclivity of its hills and mountains. At that early 
period, if our sage reviewer will tolerate the expression, 
it seemed to be the seat of inanimate existence, primeval 
solitude and native desolation; a wild and solitary spot, 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 13 

in which the silence of nature had seldom been broken, 
unless by the sound of the cataract which fell from its 
rocks into the valley beneath, or the roar of the turbid 
and swollen waters of the adjacent river. 

"We easily found the spot of re-interment, which was 
apparent from the freshness of the earth, and after pen- 
etrating the dry earth about two feet came to the coffins, 
and divested them of their lids or covers, et cetera. One 
of the bodies, that of the male, seemed to have undergone 
a considerable change, owing probably to the former 
exposure of it to the atmosphere, and was not removed 
from its bed. The other, that of the female, which ap- 
peared in a state of high preservation, and seemed to 
to have suffered no recent mutation, was raised entirely 
with its coffins and wrappings. The coffin, rather more 
than four feet in length, was manufactured of split reeds 
neatly polished and interlaced in the manner^ of wicker 
or basket work. It was suited to the dimensions of the 
body, when enveloped in all its interior covering— and 
surmounted with a close lid or cover of the same mater- 
rial and workmanship. The outer wrappings were deer- 
skins, soft and pliant to the hand, dressed to retain their 
thick coat of hair, and by a process of which I know 
nothing, and consequently can say nothing. The next, 
and much more . remarkable envelope, was a mantle of 
feathers, and about six feet square, of a bright and glossy 
surface, and of a reddish-brown color. The feathers 
were short and soft, and if of their primitive hue were 
the plumage of some bird of which we know nothmg. 
The woof or web to which they were evidently attached 
in the manufacture, and which disposed of them all in 
the same direction on both sides, appeared to have been 
fabricated of the fiber or lint of the wild nettle, which 
k probably the growth of most countries of the globe. 
This mantle, when held up to the strong light and grad- 
ually varied in its positions, presented to the eye a glossy 
and varying surface — ^not much inferior in brilliancy to 
that of changeable silk. The inmost envelope or shroud- 
ing, next to the body, was apparently of the material and 
texture which characterized the web of the mantle ; am- 



14 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

pie in its dimensions, and of a coarse but even and 
smooth fabric — and whether woven or netted, neither 
the Doctor nor myself could satisfactorily determine. It 
was of a lig-ht flaxen color, and seemed to have been 
softened by artificial means. 

'The body itself, when divested of its envelopes and 
exposed to a clear and strong light, was of a faint brown- 
ish hue, and the limbs of very delicate and feminine pro- 
portions. The whole bony, muscular and tendinous 
structure of the frame, with the exceptions which will 
be presently noticed, was entire, even to the points of the 
toes and fingers, which still retained the nails; nor was 
the proportionate and muscular swell of the trunk and 
limbs any more shrunk or depressed than might have 
been expected from the emaciations incident to a bed of 
sickness. With the exception of a slight injury to the 
right side of the head, originating probably from the 
awkwardness and inattention of those who discovered and 
first raised the body, and a transverse cut across the ab- 
domen of some length, the muscular system was entire, 
and the skin was unbroken. The feet were partially 
drawn up and the hands crossed over the breast, on 
which was found a fan, apparently constructed of the 
tail feathers of some bird of considerable size. The hair 
was of fine and glossy texture, of a bright auburn color, 
and of a length not distinctly recollected ; and respecting 
the face particularly, it is a remarkable fact, and scarcely 
credible,, that the cheeks were full and the eyelids prom- 
inent as in life. In the publication originally made in 
the Examiner, from the crude statements contained in 
the manuscript before noticed, and from which I do not 
consider myself at liberty to depart, it was alleged that 
as in life, the eyeballs occupied their sockets, that the 
eyes were unusually full and of a bright color. The fact, 
however, was otherwise, and I soon discovered the causes 
of the error. On separating the lids with the blade of 
a knife I found, as might be expected, that the eyeballs 
had entirely disappeared, and that their orbicular cavi- 
ties were completely filled with a blue or greenish mold, 
which had been mistaken by the author of the manu- 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 15 

script, probably in a moment of trepidation, for the 
humors — coats — and native color of the eye. 

"On contemplating these mute and inanimate remains, 
which had probably slept undisturbed through a long 
lapse of ages, it is to be presumed that neither my feel- 
ings nor emotions were of a very ordinary character. 
Here was a very frail memorial of the mysterious, sol- 
emn and unfathomable destinies of mankind, raised, as 
it were, from the abyss of ages long gone by, and from 
the oblivious silence of a tomb, to which it had been 
consigned by the hand of conjugal affection or parental 
love; for it will not be questioned by those who are ac- 
quainted with the cold and negligent funeral rites ob- 
served by the present Indian nations, and will contrast 
them with the comparatively rich appendages of this 
body, that it must have been interred by a very ancient 
people, and consecrated to refined and tender recollec- 
tions by no ordinary sentiments of veneration for the 
memory of the dead. 

"Unwilling that these monuments of antiquity should 
only survive in the recollection of two persons whose 
authority for representing their existence might even 
be questioned, I took a sample of the shrouding which 
immediately enveloped the body of the female, and also 
another about a foot square from the mantle of feathers ; 
then amputating one of the feet at the ankle joint, tak- 
ing care to obtain as large a portion of the tendon of 
Achilles as would be drawn out without much violence, 
I wrapped the whole carefully in paper, together with a 
lock of hair, and prosecuted my journey. I had business 
with Mr. Jefferson, and was compelled to take his place 
of residence in my route. From his character and writ- 
ings, I knew him to be a man of investigative and philo- 
sophic mind; one of Johnson's great men, whose mental 
existence and researches were not confined to the pres- 
ent time, but embraced the past and future. After con- 
templating the vestiges of antiquity with much attention 
and exhibiting them to the Russian Ambassador, then 
resident under his roof, he remarked in substance that 
they were highly worthy of attentive preservation; that 



16 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

they bespoke the existence of a people entirely unconnect- 
ed with known aborigines of this country, and of whom, 
so far as he knew, the traditionary history of the present 
Indian tribes was entirely silent; that he could not sup- 
pose them to be either of Indian or Spanish origin ; that 
the color of the hair forbid such a supposition, as re- 
spected the Spaniards, and that the aborigines of the 
country were proverbial for black hair and knew noth- 
ing, to his knowledge, of such manufactures; and that 
had they been Spaniards, their coffins would have been 
of very different material and construction, and the 
shrouding of their bodies of a very different character, 
etc. And I will here remark from my own observation 
of the modes of burial practiced by the Indian nations 
of this country, many of whose graves I have opened 
and examined, that they were very simple — consisting 
of flat rocks, disposed in something of a regular order, 
bottom, sides and tops of the graves without any shroud- 
ing or any other covering than a little earth. 

"On my arrival at New York, considering it a duty 
to take measures for the preservation of these antiqui- 
ties and for the satisfaction of public curiosity, I de- 
posited them in the American Museum of that city. They 
were placed in a glass case made expressly for the pur- 
pose, in which I afterwards saw them, during the sum- 
mer of 1815, at which period, after a lapse of more 
than four years, neither the foot nor its accompaniments 
had suffered the least change or exhibited any symptoms 
of decay, and where I presume they may yet be found." 

* ^ * 



CARROLL'S DUEL WITH JESSE BENTON. 

Governor William Carroll, a Pennsylvanian by birth, 
served Tennessee six terms as Governor, was a part 
owner in the first steamboat that ever came up the Cum- 
berland, and was one of Jackson's commanders at the 
battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, when the 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 17 

British were utterly routed. For this service Tennessee 
presented him a sword, and when he died the State hon- 
ored him again by erecting over his grave in the old 
City Cemetery at Nashville one of the handsomest mon- 
f uments to be found within the confines of the State. 
Hard by that monument, which speaks eloquently of his 
service as a soldier, is the humbler resting place of Jesse 
Benton, the high-strung brother of Tom. Benton, the 
"Old Bullion" of the United States Senate in ante- 
bellum days. 

The encounter between Carroll and Benton grew out 
of a challenge borne by the latter in behalf of Lyttleton 
Johnston, a young officer in Jackson's first expedition 
to the supposed relief of New Orleans. The duel re- 
sulted in Benton being slightly wounded. But this was 
not all. Jackson acted as Carroll's second, incurring 
thereby for the time being Tom Benton's deadly dis- 
pleasure. Out of it grew a terrible fight, in which Gen. 
Jackson came very near losing his life. 

The following account of the duel between himself 

■ and Jesse Benton was written by Gen. Carroll, the ob- 

Iject of the recital being to free Jackson from responsi- 

" bility for the deadly distance at which the duel was 

fought — ten feet: 

'T had been challenged by Littleton Johnston, a young 
'IJofficer of the army, and for reasons which it is unnec- 
— essary to detail I refused to meet him. Not satisfied 
with my refusal,, he applied to Mr. Benton to act as his 
friend, and be the bearer of a second challenge to me. 
With a knowledge of my having declined to meet Johns- 
ton, he came to Nashville and delivered a second chal- 
lenge from him (Johnston) to me, on the receipt of 
which I stated to Mr. Benton that I would give him an 
answer the next day. Mr. Benton having a knowledge 
of the circumstances of the afifair between Johnston and 
myself, I thought it possible that he was disposed to 
make himself the principal. I therefore determined to 
inform him by note that I would not fight Johnston, but 
that if he would volunteer in his behalf he should be ac- 



18 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

commodated with a meeting. I then went to General 
Jackson and informed him of what had passed and re- 
quested the favor of him to hand Mr. Benton the note 
which I intended writing to him. The General stated 
that he could perceive no cause of quarrel between Mr. 
Benton and me; that he would come to Nashville on the 
following day for the purpose of bringing about an 
amicable adjustment of the affair, and accordingly he 
did come to town^ and at my request delivered to Mr. 
Benton a note which I had prepared before his arrival 
and of which the following is a copy: 

"'Nashville, June 11, 1813. — Sir: I presume you were 
apprised that I would not have anything to do with Mr. 
Johnston, in the way he requested, and your coming 
forward as his friend after having this knowledge makes 
it probable you have volunteered in his behalf. If so, 
you can explain to General Jackson your object, and 
your wishes, and it will only rest with yourself the line 
of conduct you intend to pursue here, as no communica- 
tion from Mr. Johnston will be attended to by me. I 
am, etc.^ William Carroll. 

'' 'Mr. Jesse Benton.' 

*'0n delivering this note to Mr. Benton, General Jack- 
son, as I was then informed, stated to him he was under 
no obligation to fight me, and advised him to consult 
with some experienced gentleman, who would doubtless 
give him the same advice. This he did do, as I was 
afterwards informed by a gentleman he consulted on 
the subject, who gave him the same opinion. - However, 
after most of the day had expired, he handed to General 
Jackson a note in the following words : 

"'Nashville, June 11, 1813.— Major Carroll, Sir— I 
consider the note you sent me as dictated in the spirit 
of hostility, and morover, I consider your conduct in 
regard to Mr. Johnston as unjustifiable. I therefore 
deem it necessary to request that you will cause the nec- 
essary preparations to be made for a decisive settlement 
of the affair in which we are engaged. You will please 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 19 

inform me as early as possible, as I shall be in complete 

readiness by 12 o'clock tomorrow. I have the honor 
to be, etc., Jesse Benton. 

" 'Major William Carroll.' 

"He was informed by the General that I would meet 
him. It was agreed between them that on the next day 
but one, at twelve o'clock, the friend of Mr. Benton and 
General Jackson should meet in Nashville for the pur- 
pose of agreeing to the rules which were to govern the 
parties in terminating the affair. The matter having pro- 
gressed so far, I conceived it to be my duty to adopt 
such measures as would put me on equal grounds with 
my adversary, who was known to be a first rate marks- 
man with a pistol, and as I never had shot much, I con- 
cluded that he would have no advantage if the distance 
was short, and therefore determined on ten feet. This 
determination I made known to General Jackson, who 
said that having been challenged, I had the right of se- 
lecting the distance; but as I had equally the right of 
naming the time, I could in a few days learn to shoot 
well, and therefore he thought there could be no great 
objection to the usual distance of thirty feet.^ Findmg 
that I was disposed to adhere to the distance first se- 
lected, the General proposed that it should be increased 
to at least fifteen feet. After making an experiment by 
shooting a few times, I decided not to alter the distance 
I had first chosen. I mention this circumstance because 
General Jackson had been incorrectly charged with ad- 
vising the selection of a short distance with a view of 
making the combat a desperate one. At the time ap- 
pointed, General Jackson and a friend of Mr. Benton 
met in Nashville, and the rules and regulations for gov- 
erning the parties and bringing the affair to a close were 
drawn up and signed by them. And although I had the 
undoubted right to fix the time of meeting, yet that was 
conceded by the courtesy of General Jackson to Mr. 
Benton, and he did appoint for that purpose 6 o'clock the 
next morning. In further proof of the conciliating con- 
duct of the General, he called on me twice the same aft- 



20 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

eraoon the rules were agreed on (at the instance of Mr. 
Benton and his friends, as he informed me), to get me 
to consent to an extension of the distance, to which I 
would not agree. The next morning we met at the place 
appointed, and after our pistols were loaded Mr. Benton 
and myself took our pistols, ten feet from each other, 
standing back to back. After being asked if we were 
ready, both answering in the affirmative, the word Tire' 
was given, when we wheeled and fired. Mr. Benton 
was severely wounded, and myself slightly." 

The aftermath of this encounter was the desperate 
fight between the Bentons — Tom and Jesse — and General 
Jackson, John Coffee and Stokeley Hays in the old City 
Hotel, at that time standing on the east side of the Pub- 
lic Square of Nashville. Tom Benton was greatly in- 
censed that Jackson had been the second of his brother's 
opponent in a duel^, and on the way from Washington 
to Nashville used violent language. Jesse Benton in 
the fight escaped through the interference of bystanders. 
Tom Benton backed into a providentially provided flight 
of steps and tumbled down them just as Coffee attacked 
him. Jackson's shoulder was shattered by a charge of 
slugs from the pistol of Jesse Benton, so that the call to 
take the field against the murderous Creeks after the 
Fort Mims massacre found him desperately wounded, 
though he bravely took the field. General Jackson and 
Col. Tom Benton, however, did not continue through 
life at daggers' points. In later years the latter became 
"Old Hickory's" stoutest defender in Congress. 

^ * * 

PRESIDENT POLK'S EAGLE QUILL PEN. 

Among the choicest relics that Tennessee possesses of 
the war with Mexico and of her son whose administra- 
tion of the Presidency is especially noted by reason of 
that war, is a pen curiously fashioned from an eagle's 
quill, with which James K. Polk signed the document 
proclaiming peace. Its value as a relic of the man and 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 21 

of the war is accentuated by the fact that the history 
of the pen was written by Polk himself. And this is 
the story: 

"This quill was presented to me by Mrs. Custis, the 
wife of Col. Custis^ of Gloucester, Virginia — by the 
hands of Mr. Fitzhugh, who states that Mrs. C. is a 
Democrat and her husband is a Whig. Mr. F. tells me 
that this quill was dropped by an eagle flying over the 
plantation of Mr. Custis on the day Mr. Clay was nomi- 
nated for the Presidency — in May, 1844. I requested 
Mr. Fitzhugh to present to Mrs. C. my thanks for the 
quill, and say to her that I would make a pen of it, and 
sign my first message to Congress with it. Presented 
28th Aug., 1845. J. K. P. 

'Washington, Dec. 2nd., 1845 : I have this day signed 
my first message to Congress^ with the pen made of the 
eagle's quill described above, and with which I wrote 
this memorandum. J. K. P. 

"Washington, Dec. 29th., 1845 : I this day approved 
and signed a joint resolution of Congress, entitled 'Joii^t 
Resolution for the Admission of the State of Texas into 
the Union.' I signed the said resolution, being the first 
legislative act I had approved, with the pen of the eagle's 
quill described in the foregoing memorandum. I write 
this memorandum with the same pen. 

" James K. Polk. 

"Washington, Dec. 29th., 1845 : 1 J o'clock p.m., being 
about half an hour after I had signed the resolution to 
admit Texas into the Union, a committee of Congress 
presented me with an act passed by that body — To ex- 
tend the laws of the United States over the State of 
Texas. I approved it, and signed it with the same pen 
of the eagle described above, and with which I make 
this note. James K. Polk. 

"Washington, July 30th., 1846: I this day approved 
and signed an act entitled, 'An act reducing the duty c/n 



22 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

imports and for other purposes.' This act affects tlie 
long desired reform of the tariff act of 1842, which has 
given rise to one of the greatest struggles between the 
two great political parties which has ever been witnessed 
in this country. I approved and signed the bill with the 
pen made of the eagle's quill, described in the first page 
of this sheet. James K. Polk. 

"July 4, 1848: This afternoon about 4^ o'clock, p.m., 
Dr. Reyburn, a bearer of dispatches, arrived, bringing 
with him the ratified treaty of peace with Mexico. The 
proclamation announcing the exchange of ratifications 
of the treaty and the ratifications of peace between the 
two countries was prepared this evening at the State 
Department. I signed the proclamation in the presence 
of Judge Mason, the Secretary of the Navy, about 11 
o'clock p.m. I signed it with the pen made of the eagle's 
quill, described on page 1 of the accompanying sheet. 

"July 4, 1848. James K. Polk.'' 

The pen is still capable of good use, and the quaint, 
probably characteristic handwriting of the former Pres- 
ident is still distinctly legible, though written over sixty 
years ago. The pen is on exhibition at the Tennessee 
Historical Society at Nashville. 



^ ^ ^ 



MUMMY NASHVILLE EDITOR'S REWARD. 

A museum of general interest as well as of historical 
value through its mementoes of great Tennesseans or 
great Tennessee occasions, is the State Historical Soci- 
ety, which makes its home in the Watkins Building, at 
the corner of Sixth Avenue and Church Street, in Nash- 
ville. 

Almost everything from the rude vessels of the mound 
builders to a death mask of Napoleon is included in the 
list of curios and relics, with the papers and documents 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 23 

running from the bound volume of Tennessee's first 
newspaper to proclamations by the great among her 
sons, printed on silk instead of paper. 

Of greatest general interest in the collection is a 
mummy, a gift to the society by Jeremiah George Har- 
ris, the great ante-bellum editor of Tennessee, the con- 
temporary of George D. Prentice. For over fifty years 
the Egyptian has been the property of the society. Fol- 
lowing his editorial efforts in behalf of the Jackson 
party and of Polk in Tennessee, Col. Harris received an 
appointment in the navy, and in 1860 the man-of-war on 
which he was stationed was in Egyptian waters. Col. 
Harris went on shore frequently, and on one occasion 
was walking out with a member of the Khedive's staff, 
when the latter was set upon by rufiians. Col. Harris, 
who was a man of great strength^ went to his compan- 
ion's rescue, and the rogues were quickly put to flight. 

"What can I do for you," asked the Egyptian officer, 
"to show adequate appreciation of the service you have 
rendered me?" 

"Give me a mummy," laughed the American. 

"A mummy?" repeated the Egyptian, pondering the 
question. Did you know, sir, that our laws prohibit the 
removal of mummies under penalty of death? But, 
never mind, your request shall be fulfilled. Just before 
your vessel leaves the harbor a boat will come alongside. 
It will contain that for which you have asked." 

It was so ordered. When the man-of-war prepared to 
depart a boat did come alongside, and a big bundle was 
slipped aboard. It was not opened until Boston was 
reached, when six mummies, instead of one, were found. 
They were unwrapped, and the best one sent on to the 
Tennessee Historical Society, where it now remains. 



24 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 



BROTHER OF NAPOLEON'S MARSHAL. 

The story of the coming of no visitor to Nashville 
contains more of interest than that of Marshal Bertrand 
of France, the same who sat at the lonely death-bed of 
the great Emperor at St. Helena. 

Those who have visited the magnificent tomb of Na- 
poleon at Paris will recall the distinction paid to the 
Marshal in death by France, his sarcophagus, with that 
of Marshal Duroc, flanking the entrance to the crypt 
in which the remains of the Emperor repose in state. 

The Marshal and his party including his son^ Col. 
Napoleon Bertrand, and his aide, Monsieur Manoel, a 
nephew of Jerome Bonaparte, arrived in Nashville by 
steamer from St. Louis September 29, 1843, stopping 
for the evening at the old City Hotel, where many peo- 
ple called upon them. The following day they drove 
to the Hermitage. They were received with great cor- 
diality, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon sat down to 
dinner with the General, Gen. Armstrong^ Count de 
Moilles and Judge Dodd. It was said that when the 
two venerable soldiers met, tears became visible in 
the eyes of both. The party spent a pleasant day, and 
at night returned to Nashville, where they became guests 
at the home of Jackson's devoted friend, Judge John 
Catron, of the United States Supreme Court, the re- 
mains of which now stand in the rear of a saloon located 
at 216 Fourth Avenue, North. 

The weather was very inclement, and Marshal Ber- 
trand w^s prevailed upon to delay his departure for 
Louisville till Sunday. Many more citizens took ad- 
vantage of the opportunity thus afforded to call and 
make his acquaintance. As a result of this delay in his 
departure,, the most remarkable feature of his visit oc- 
curred. 

The incident, many years ago, was put in print by the 
late Thomas Boyers, of Gallatin, for years an esteemed 
editor of Tennessee. Mr. Boyers' story was as follows : 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 25 

"Long- before the Civil War, there lived in the town 
of Gallatin a little Frenchman named Bertrand. He 
kept a little store of nondescript articles in the building 
on Water Street now occupied by C. H. Cocke (1880) 
as a saddlery shop, and had a large family. 

"Let us go back a little further in the century. Ber- 
trand was conscripted in Frances, at Marseilles, in 18 — , 
at the time of the insurrection of the blacks in San Do- 
mingo^ then owned by France. He sailed with General 
Le Clerc and went through that horrible campaign, es- 
caped to the United States, landing at Norfolk and find- 
ing his way to Richmond. He married his wife there, 
we believe, and drifted out to Tennessee and to Gallatin. 
This was as far back as 1840 or thereabouts. 

"Some time about 1843 Napoleon's Marshal, Gen. Ber- 
trand, paid a visit to the United States, and came to 
Nashville. While here he was the guest of Judge Ca- 
tron, of the United States Supreme Court. During Mar- 
shal Bertrand's stay in Nashville a large number of cit- 
izens called to pay their respects. The writer was a 
very young man, and was among the visitors. 

"On entering the parlor wherein he received, the Mar- 
shal was seated near the fireplace. The writer was in- 
stantly struck with his resemblance to the old man Ber- 
trand of Gallatin. The likeness was perfect. The fea- 
tures of the Marshal had become familiar to us from an 
old painting depicting the death-bed of the first Em- 
peror at St. Helena, and Count Bertrand was a promi- 
nent figure in the group, being seated, bent, near the 
bedside. Singular, too, that the likeness had never be- 
fore occurred to us; but it flashed over us in an instant 
that there sat the twin brother — the double. Awaiting 
our time to be presented, further study' of the face of 
the Marshal confirmed our idea beyond a doubt. In due 
time we had the honor of an introduction. He was like 
all Frenchmen, aflfable and courteous. As our youth 
did not justify us in more than a brief conversation, we 
very timidly asked the Marshal in what part of France 
he was born. 



26 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

"He replied: 'At Marseilles.' 

" 'Did you have any brother ?' 

" 'Yes/ 

" 'Was he with General Le Clerc in San Domingo ?' 

" 'He was ; but I have never known what was his fate. 
Why do you ask?' he inquired of us. 

"We replied that there was an old man in the town in 
which we lived who bore so striking a resemblance to 
him that we were struck with it the moment we saw 
him, and that it must be his long lost brother. He ap- 
peared agitated, and mused thoughtfully for several min- 
utes, and then asked what was his condition. We told 
him of his straightened poverty and large family. He 
became silent for a while, and then rapidly thanking us 
for our kindness in giving him the information, he 
turned to others who were awaiting their presentation, 
and we never saw him again. On our return home we 
informed 'our' old Bertrand of the occurrence. He re- 
ceived it with indifference, without interest and without 
thanks. He neither confirmed nor denied our conclu- 
sion of his relationship to Marshal Bertrand. And yet 
we thought that we detected in the expression of his 
cunning little eyes confirmation of our belief. Evident- 
ly there was something between the brothers — there had 
been some trouble, and coolness or hatred had grown up. 

"The incident soon passed out of our mind, and we 
thought no more of it. Many years afterward we 
learned with certainty that after our interview with Mar- 
shal Bertrand, he immediately dispatched a swift cour- 
ier to Gallatin with messages to his brother^ and a press- 
ing invitation to meet him at Nashville, coupled with of- 
fers of pecuniary assistance. The courier found him 
'in his cups,' and he savagely repulsed him, telling him 
to go to the devil. The courier returned to Nashville, 
and the old Marshal of a hundred fields, the chosen com- 
panion of the great Napoleon, left for New York, and 
sailed for France and a grave !" 



It Happened in Nashville. Tennessee. 27 



GRANT CALLED TO COMMAND THE ARMIES. 

(Private.) 
^"Nashville, Tennessee, March 4, 1864. 

''Dear Sherman: The bill reviving the grade of lieu- 
tenant-general in the army has become a law, and my 
name has been sent to the Senate for the place. 

*T now receive orders to report at Washington im- 
mediately, in person, which indicates either a confirma- 
tion or a likelihood of confirmation. I start in the morn- 
ing to comply with the order, but I shall say very dis- 
tinctly on my arrival there that I shall accept no appoint- 
ment which will require me to make that city my head- 
quarters. This, however, is not what I started out to 
write about. 

'While I have been eminently successful in this war, 
in at least gaining the confidence of the public, no one 
feels more than I how much of this success is due to the 
energy, skill and the harmonious putting forth of that 
energy and skill of those whom it has been my good 
fortune to have occupying subordinate positions under 
me. 

"There are many officers to whom these remarks are 
applicable to a greater or less degree, proportionate to 
their ability as soldiers ; but what I want is to express my 
thanks to you and tMcPherson as the men to whom, 
above all others, I feel indebted for whatever I have had 
of success. How far your advice and suggestions have 
been of assistance, you know. How far your execution 
of whatever has been given you to do entitles you to 
the reward I am receiving, you cannot know as well as 
I do. I feel all the gratitude this letter would express, 
giving it the most flattering construction. 

♦From the Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman. 
tGen. J. B. McPherson, commander of the Army of the 
Tennessee. 



28 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

'The word you I use in the plural, intending it for 
McPherson also. I should write to him, and will some 
day, but starting in the morning, I do not know that I 
will find the time just now. 

''Your friend, 

''U. S. Grant, Major-General/' 

Sherman reached Nashville from near Memphis on 
March 17, in time to witness the presentation here on 
March 18 of a handsome sword, sash and spurs to Grant 
by his fellow-townsmen of Galena, 111. Mrs. Grant, 
their daughter Nellie, and one or two of the boys were 
also present, the great soldier, as usual, according to 
Gen. Sherman, making rather an awkward figure at the 
ceremony. On the following day Sherman issued or- 
ders assuming command of the Military Division of the 
Mississippi, to which he had been promoted by Grant's 
advancement. Grant went on at once to take personal 
command of the Armies of the Potomac and the James, 
and McPherson, in a little over four months, met his 
death in the fighting around Atlanta. 

^ * * 
A SCHOOLGIRL BEFORE A MILITARY COURT. 

"Disloyalty" and "uttering treasonable language" 
seem to have been particularly high crimes and misde- 
meanors in Nashville following the close of the war, in 
the good year of 1865. The penalty pronounced upon 
Miss Emma Latimer, a schoolgirl living in Edgefield 
(now East Nashville), for tearing down a United States 
flag suspended from a tree in her father's yard by two or 
three quartermaster clerks who were boarding with the 
Latimers, was that she pay a fine of $300 and be impris- 
oned in a military prison for ninety days. The occurs 
rence took place July 4, 1865, the flag being immediately 
torn down by Miss Latimer, who was a very loyal little 
"rebel." In the prosecution that followed. Miss Latimer 
was defended by Col. William G. Brien, long a member 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 29 

of the bar of Nashville. Col. Brien made a most scathing 
arraignment of the ''heroic" quartermaster clerks, whose 
"first fight for the United States flag was with a thought- 
less schoolgirl." The sentence pronounced was set asi(je 
by Brevet Maj.-Gen. Johnson, in command of the Mid- 
dle Tennessee District, who ordered Miss Latimer re- 
stored to her parents, but took occasion to admonish her 
against further "treasonable" acts. 

* * ¥ 

THE TYPEWRITER IN TELEGRAPHY. 

Simple as the matter appears now, after typewriters 
have been in general use for years, it took time for the 
value of the writing machines in copying press reports 
for the newspapers to be appreciated. The first to ap- 
preciate the aid of the typewriter to a press operator 
was John Payne, an operator of the Western Union m 
Nashville, whose particular duty it was to take the As- 
sociated Press report for the old American, the report 
then amounting to something like 7,000 to 8,000 words 
nightly. „ 

It was about the year 1885 that Payne, later a well 
known citizen of Cincinnati, was engaged in this work. 
He was a splendid operator, and in addition a gen- 
erous, jolly fellow, and every one who recalls him as a 
resident of Nashville has a pleasant word to say of 

It was some time in May of 1885 that Addison C. 
Thomas, formerly Superintendent of the Associated 
Press, paid a visit to Nashville. The Associated Press 
had just leased wires to Memphis and Nashville, and 
the superintendent was on a trip establishing offices and 
looking out for good operators. His business led him 
into the office of the managing editor of the American, 
and it was in the managing editor's wastebasket that his 
eye caught sight of a piece of castaway copy. It in- 
terested him at once. It was a news story under a Chi- 



30 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

cago date line of that day, and was typewritten. As the 
press report was then written by hand, a piece of type- 
written copy was indeed worthy of the notice of the 
visiting official. 

*'Go ahead, read anything in the basket," was the re- 
sponse of the managing editor to the visitor's request 
for a closer look at the typewritten story from Chicago. 
In the shortest possible period of time the Associated 
Press official was making inquiries, and as a result dis- 
covered that Payne for months had been taking the 
press report on a typewriter, to the eminent satisfaction 
of all parties concerned. 

"The moment I saw this copy," said Superintendent 
Thomas some years ago in telling of the incident, 'T 
recognized its value to the telegraph editors, to the news- 
papers, to the compositors and to every one connected 
with the daily newspapers, in fact, to the telegraph op- 
erators themselves, and I believed that by using the 
typewriter they would be enabled to do their work more 
rapidly and with greater ease." 

Superintendent Thomas had an interview with Payne 
at once, and in a very short time the latter was upon the 
payroll of the great press association. But his mission 
in life then passed from that of a mere operator; in- 
stead he was employed to become a missionary among 
his fellows in all the large press offices of the country. 
A few days later Superintendent Thomas and the young 
operator started upon a tour, the purpose of which was 
to relegate the old-time stylus to the days gone by. The 
missionary tour first carried John Payne to Louisville, 
thence to Indianapolis, to Cincinnati, Pittsburg, New 
York, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago and other cities. 
On this trip Payne's typewriter was the most important 
part of his baggage. The lessons were simple. Payne 
would copy the press reports a day and night in an office, 
and by the time the lesson was concluded, his pupil was 
a convert. 

Within two weeks after the tour of instruction was 
concluded, the Associated Press had purchased $5,000 
worth of typewriters and had placed them in the various 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 31 

newspaper offices. This large purchase was the first, 
according to Superintendent Thomas, to be made of the 
manufacturers for telegraph purposes; at least Payne's 
work is said to date the successful use of the machine 
in telegraphing. Prior to this time, however, the tele- 
graph companies had made an attempt to introduce type- 
writers in their offices, but owing to the opposition of 
some of the men, probably due to the fact that the in- 
vention had not been entirely perfected, their use by 
telegraph operators amounted to nothing. 

The Associated Press stimulated Payne's work as a 
missionary, by offering prizes to the operators making 
most rapid progress. Few innovations ever made in the 
newspaper offices of the country have proved of more 
general satisfaction. 



* ^ * 



FEAT OF AN OLD NASHVILLE PAPER. 

On September 27, 1865, the old Nashville Republican 
Banner (the city's first permanent daily paper), resumed 
publication, the war having ended. John and Albert 
Roberts revived it. Before the year ended Henry Wat- 
terson and George E. Purvis bought an interest in the 
enterprise. Henry Watterson, after first Manassas, had 
come back to Tennessee and worked for this newspaper 
during the early days of the Civil War. Later he tried 
soldiering, being a voluntary aid on the staff of Gen- 
Forrest when Franc M. Paul, the publisher of the Chat- 
tanooga Rebel, the peripatetic organ of the Army of 
Tennessee, invited him to become the editor of that 
journal. After the war he was a member of the staff 
of the Republican Banner again, from the fall of 1865 
until 1868, when he went to the Louisville Journal, 
which later consolidated with the Courier to form the 
Louisville Courier-Journal of today. 

During his connection with the Republican Banner it 



32 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

performed a feat which even in these later days of start- 
ling newspaper enterprise is worthy of a place in the 
history of journalism. Mr. Watterson himself was away 
at the time, perhaps on his wedding tour, but he has de- 
scribed that feat in his own matchless style, as follows : 

"This was the way of it: The paper was about going 
to press. Mr. Henry Heiss, the managing editor, was 
preparing to leave the office, and Mr. McManus, the fore- 
man, late an honored member of the New York Sun's 
typographical force and as brave and noble a man as I 
ever saw, was about closing the last form, when the fire 
broke out. The boys in the reporters' room were called 
back, the men were called back^ the men were kept at 
their cases, and work on the fire in progress was at once 
begun. On the boys scribbled, page after page. The copy 
was rushed to the composing room. Away the type rat- 
tled in their sticks, and down came the flames, until it was 
certain the office was doomed. Out of this fire track and 
half a block off was a stone printing office, fully equipped 
and in a state of innocuous desuetude, belonging to the 
government. Mr. McManus said to Mr. Heiss, T'll lock 
up the forms and get them over there, if you can get ac- 
cess to the building.' Heiss broke open the door, lighted 
the lamps, transferred his force from one building to the 
other and quietly but rapidly proceeded with the work 
in hand. 

"Mr. McManus remained to bring up the rear with 
the great metal forms. One after another was locked 
up and sent out, carried by two men each. The last one 
remained to be dispatched. Failure here was failure ev- 
erywhere. The flames were closing in on McManus. 
The smoke was already filling the composing room. But 
this hero stood by his composing stone, cooly emptying 
column after column, watching as he did so the ap- 
proaching flames of fire. He had just finished locking 
it when a part of the roof came down. Then he threw 
the form over his shoulder and on his back, and with 
the framework of the door blazing about him, passed 
out and down the burning stairs and into the street. The 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 33 

rest of the work was quickly and easily done, and the 
newspaper which had hardly a stone left to mark its 
place of business was the only newspaper in the city 
which appeared on time with a full account of the fire." 

The Republican Banner on September 1, 1875, con- 
solidated with the old Union and American to form the 
American, which in 1910 was purchased by and merged 
with the Nashville Tennessean. 

* ^ * 
THE "FOOL WARRIOR" OF INDIAN DAYS. 

For many years after the settlement on Cumberland 
River, destined to become Nashville, had its beginning, 
the pioneers suffered fearfully from the murderous rav- 
ages of the Indians. Many deeds of heroism and daring 
attended the defense by the whites of their homes and 
families. Only by the courage of the settlers in the face 
of constant hardship and danger, did the community sur- 
vive. One of the most noted of the Indian fighters in 
the early days was Abe Castleman, called by the sav- 
ages because of his daring, "The Fool Warrior." He 
came of a large Virginia family, several members of 
which settled about Nashville. In July, 1793, Joseph and 
Jacob Castleman were killed and Hans Castleman was 
badly wounded in a field near Hays Station, ten miles 
from Nashville. In retaliation Abe Castleman organized 
a company of sixteen to hunt the Indians. Reaching the 
Tennessee River, several Indians having been killed, all 
but six of the party of scouts turned back to the settle- 
ment. Castleman, Frederick Stull, Zach Maclin, John 
Camp, Eli Hammond and Zeke Caruthers continued on 
to the Indian country dressed and painted as warriors. 
They swam the Tennessee below the Indian town of 
Nickajack and struck a trail thought to lead to Will's 
Town. They had not progressed more than ten miles 
before they came upon a party of fifty Creeks, in war 
paint, but at that moment engaged in the peaceful occu- 
pation of eating. The approach of the disguised whites 



34 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

caused no alarm among the savages, and arriving at a 
convenient distance the scouts, on a preconcerted signal, 
fired their pieces. The white men were marksmen 
trained by necessity never to miss a shot, and in the face 
of their fusillade seven warriors fell dead. Each had 
killed a man except Castleman. His gun being double 
charged, two warriors fell before it. In the confusion 
following the unexpected attack the white men escaped 
and made their way back to the settlement. Later it was 
learned that this was a war party bent on a raid on the 
Cumberland settlements. The bloody experience with 
Castleman and his company dampened the ardor of the 
war party to such an extent that the expedition was 
abandoned. 

m ^ * 

LAFAYETTE'S NARROW ESCAPE. 

The most notable entertainment ever given a visitor 
to Nashville was, as it should have been, that accorded 
Marquis LaFayette, who came on May 4, 1825. He 
came on the invitation of the State, $3,000 being ex- 
pended for his entertainment. The entertainment plans 
for the first day included an elaborate parade, in which 
the gallant Frenchman rode in a carriage drawn by four 
handsome greys, a reception to the ladies of Nashville 
at the Masonic Hall, a dinner at the Nashville Inn, a 
reception by the Masons, and a formal call on Gov. Wm. 
Carroll. 

The following day the soldiers encamped on South 
field were reviewed, the old Nashville Female Academy 
was visited, then Cumberland College; luncheon at the 
Hermitage, tea with Mayor Robert B. Currey, and then 
a ball at the Masonic Hall, attended by 300 ladies. At 
the supper, following the dancing, the gallant foreigner 
offered the toast: "Tennessee beauty — equal to Tennes- 
see valour." 

The distinguished guest left the following morning, 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 35 

May 6, for Louisville on the chartered steamer Mechan- 
ic, Capt. W. Hall. 

About 12 o'clock Sunday night, May 8, the steamer, 
while ascending the Ohio, near the mouth of Deer Creek, 
struck a snag. All the passengers were asleep when the 
shock came. Gov. Carroll, who had accompanied Ten- 
nessee's recent visitor on his way, aroused the Marquis 
and his suite, who were sleeping in the ladies' cabin. 
While the Marquis dressed, the yawl was prepared and 
in it were placed LaFayette, the eight-year-old daughter 
of the Rev. Mr. Campbell, the only female on board, and 
several others, the passage to the shore being safely ef- 
fected. Two other trips were made, most of the cabin 
passengers being thus placed ashore, and then the boat 
sank, going down within ten minutes after she struck, 
in 18 feet of water, fifty yards from the shore. Some 
of the cabin passengers, nearly all the deck passengers, 
and most of the crew were precipitated into the murky 
water as the boat went down. The roof of the pilot house 
and a portion of one side of the boat remained above 
water, affording places of safety till they could be taken 
off. LaFayette's son and one of his suite, M. de Seyen, 
were among those still on the wreck when she careened, 
but they escaped to the shore. The Marquis lost his 
hat, most of his papers, part of his baggage, a carriage 
presented to him by Mrs. Custis, and a little dog, the 
gift of Col. Bumford and lady. Capt. Hall, in attending 
to the safety of the distinguished traveler and the other 
passengers, suffered the loss of $1,300, but the money 
was subsequently recovered. 

No house was near the point where the wreck oc- 
curred, and the dripping voyagers passed the remainder 
of the night in the forest, sitting in groups about the fires 
they quickly kindled, the Marquis occupying a mattress 
saved from the steamer, and sheltered from the rain- 
drops by an umbrella. In these gloomy surroundings 
the veteran patriot made himself at home until day, when 
one of Gov. Carroll's staff procured a ferry boat in 
which LaFayette was conveyed to the nearest cabin and 



36 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

refreshed with the best its humble larder afforded. In 
the meanwhile the steamboat Paragon was seen descend- 
ing the river, and on the order of her owner, William H. 
Neilson, of Louisville, one of the shipwrecked party, 
turned back, carrying the nation's guest and his fellow- 
passengers to Louisville. 

The first report reaching Nashville of the mishap was 
that the Marquis had been lost, and until definite news 
of his safety was received the city, which had so lately 
been the scene of great festivity, threatened to go into 
mourning. 

* ^ ^ 



THE "GREY-EYED MAN OF DESTINY." 

Scarcely a vestige remains of the birth-place and boy- 
hood home of William Walker, the great filibuster, 
which formerly stood in Nashville at 142 Fourth Ave- 
nue, North. William Walker was the son of James 
Walker, who subsequently moved to Louisville and died 
there, his remains being brought back for burial in Mt. 
Olivet Cemetery in 1874. William Walker, romantically 
known to fame as "the Grey-Eyed Man of Destiny," 
was born in Nashville in 1824, and graduated at the old 
University of Nashville at the age of fourteen. He 
studied medicine^ the law, and also essayed the news- 
paper business in various places. Relatives of the family 
relate a tradition of a love affair, the other party to 
which. Miss Helen Martin, a beautiful young woman of 
New Orleans, a deaf mute, died during a fever epi- 
demic, the untimely ending of his romance sending 
Walker out upon the high road of adventure. 

He was a man of small stature, and except for his re- 
markable grey eyes, the physical antithesis of a soldier 
of fortune, though he proved himself sufficiently a mil- 
itary character to arouse the hostility of two of the fore- 
most nations of the world — the United States and En- 
gland. In 1853j with a handful of men with whom he 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 37 

had shipped out of San Francisco, he took La Paz,- in 
Lower California, and proceeded to erect the repubhc of 
Sonora, with himself at the head. The republic's exis- 
tence was brief. On May 8, 1854, Walker and the rem- 
nant of his little army reached San Diego and sur- 
rendered to a U. S. officer. He then turned his atten- 
tion to Central America as a field of adventure. June 
IS, 1855, he landed in Nicaragua with a corps of bold 
spirits, and on July 12, 1856, was inaugurated president 
of the republic of Nicaragua. The States of Honduras, 
San Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica were soon ar- 
rayed against him. The struggle to set up and maintain 
his authority ended only with Walker's death. His ex- 
peditions to the dominion he claimed were a thorn in the 
flesh of the administration of President Buchanan, which 
proclaimed against him. The powers of Wall Street, too, 
sought the adventurer's destruction. But the people of this 
country were for him. Following his first expedition 
and his capitulation when confronted by an^ American 
war vessel commanded by Commodore Davis, Walker 
returned to his own country, his presence everywhere 
except in Washington exciting the liveliest interest. He 
delivered an address in New Orleans and another in 
Nashville, the latter at the State Capitol. While in New 
York, in June, 1857, he visited Wallack's Theatre. The 
place was thronged, attention being divided between the 
filibuster and the star, Miss Eliza Logan. At the close 
of the second act he was forced to speak. He said : 

"Permit me, in returning thanks to you for these ex- 
pressions of your sympathy, to refer to a scene painted 
by the great dramatic poet of the century. When Jean- 
ie Deans went to the Duke of Argyle to beg the life of 
her sister, she wore the tartan of her country; after 
pressing her suit with impassioned earnestness, she said 
to the Duke: T thought your grace's heart would 
warm at the sight of the tartan.' He answered : 'When 
the heart of McCallum More ceases to warm at the 
sight of the tartan, may it cease to beat, and lie cold 
under the sod.' And I say now : When this heart shall 



38 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

cease to beat in favor of the liberties and institutions of 
my native land, and to such marks of approval of my 
countrymen, may it cease to beat and lie cold under 
the sod." 

August 15, 1860, Walker's last expedition, made up 
of less than 100 men, landed at Ruatan. August 21 
found him in possession of Truxillo after desperate 
fighting, with Commodore Norvell P. Salmon, of the 
British sloop of war Icarus demanding the surrender of 
the city by 10 o'clock the following morning. Walker 
determined to evacuate the place. That night, accom- 
panied by Rudler and Ryan, two of his lieutenants, and 
James Oates to act as sentinel, he led the way to a spot 
near the old Spanish cathedral where his treasure, $12,- 
000 taken from the custom house, was buried at dead 
of night. The evacuation then began. After bloody 
fighting with the Hondurans, in the course of which 
Walker was wounded, the little company finally reached 
Rio Negro, and at the trading post of an Englishman 
named Deming a halt was called. Here on September 3, 
Commander Salmon and Gen. Alvarez of the Honduran 
army, appeared. When the former demanded the sur- 
render of the filibusters. Walker - responded with an 
inquiry as to whether or not the demand was made as a 
British officer, and if the surrender was to be to British 
authority. Walker's last statement to the world was 
that the Englishman accepted the surrender as the rep- 
resentative of her Britannic Majesty. The Icarus, with 
her prisoners, all of whom had been disarmed, even to 
their knives, reached Truxillo the night of September 4, 
and the following morning the men were marched off to 
prison. Walker and Col. Rudler were formally turned 
over to the Honduran authorities, who decreed the for- 
mer's death. On September 12, 1860, the imprisoned 
adventurers saw from a window in a cell their heroic 
leader, guarded by soldiers, march by between two 
priests on the way to the place of execution. He was 
clad in black and carried his hat in his hand. His brow 
was placid, his face even illuminated with a smile. On 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 39 

a level stretch of sandy beach he received the last rites 
of the Church, faced a platoon and was shot to death. 
He died claiming to be the lawful president of Nica- 
ragua. Years later an effort was made to locate his 
grave, but that part of the beach upon which he had been 
buried had long since washed away. 

Of his lieutenants on that ill fated expedition, Rudler 
was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Ryan, 
Walker's chief of ordnance, survived to die in the Vir- 
ginius affair. The most picturesque of all Walker's sub- 
ordinates, Henry, an ex-officer in the U. S. army, died 
by his own hand in the hospital at Truxillo the night of 
the evacuation. Desperately wounded in an encounter 
with Ryan^ the result of his own wilful disobedience of 
orders while intoxicated, it is said, the night Walker 
marched away he arose from his cot, poured several 
papers of morphine into a glass of lemonade, and holding 
his wounded jaw with his hand, he swallowed the deadly 
draft and lay down to die. 

^ * ^ 

THE EXECUTION OF CHAMP FERGUSON. 

The most notable execution ever taking place in Nash- 
ville was that of the Confederate partisan, Champ Fer- 
guson. He was hanged in the yard of the old State 
Prison, that stood at the corner of Church and Stone- 
wall Streets October 20, 1865. Col. W. R. Shafter, 
(a commander in the Spanish War), directed the exe- 
cution as commander of the post. Ferguson was 
charged with killing some thirty-odd men during the 
war. Some of these deeds he admitted; others he dis- 
claimed. 

*T killed a good many men, of course; I don't deny 
that, but never killed a man whom I did not know was 
seeking my life," was the way the rugged mountaineer, 
put it. After bidding his wife and daughter good-by on 
the morning the execution, Ferguson was led forth to 
the gallows. Col. Shafter read the charges, specifica- 



40 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

tions and the sentence, and as the noose was placed about 
his neck, Ferguson's face broke into a sweat. Col. Shaf- 
ter wiped it away. 

"I don't know some of the things in these specifica- 
tions," said the partisan; *'but I don't deny anything I 
ever done. I want to be sent to my family. I don't 
want to be buried in this soil. Don't give me to the 
doctors. I don't want to be cut up here." 

Col Shafter said: ''You shan't, Mr. Ferguson." 

Ferguson said: "I want to be put in that thing (the 
coffin) and taken to White County, where I can have 
my family around me. If I had only had my way, I 
wouldn't have been here." 

''Whenever you are ready, I am done. My last re- 
quest is to be sent away with my wife." 

The cap was pulled down, the trap sprung and the 
terrible border fighter launched into eternity. 

An effort had been made to secure leniency for the 
man, and a courier was sent to Washington to bring 
about that end, but the effort was without avail. 

^ * ^ 

"GREAT LAND PIRATE" AT THE BAR 

The following entry, forty years ago, was discovered 
in the records of the Davidson County (Nashville) Cir- 
cuit Court of 1825, the leaves of which were even then 
musty with time. The fame of the criminal to whom 
the entry has reference once extended over every State 
in the Union, and his daring though violent deeds have 
been commemorated in prose and verse : 

"Circuit Court, Davidson County, Thursday morning, 
May 25, 1825. The State vs. John A. Murrell. This day 
came the Attorney General for the State, solicitorial 
district in the State of Tennessee, and the said John A. 
Murrell was led to the bar by the Sheriff of Davidson 
County, whereupon came a jury of good and lawful 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 41 

men, to-wit : Egbert Haywood, Henry Lile, Micajah Fly, 
William H. Nance, Brent Spencer, Jordan Hyde, John 
W. Wright, Philip Hoover, Newall H. Robertson, God- 
frey Shelton, Jonathan Drake and John Nichols, who 
being elected, tried and sworn the truth of and upon the 
premises to speak, and having heard the evidence, on 
their oath do say that the said John A. Murrell is guilty 
of horse stealing in manner and form as charged in the 
bill of indictment; and thereupon, it being demanded of 
the said John A. Murrell if anything for himself hath 
or knoweth, to say why the court here to judgment and 
execution of and upon the premises should not proceed, 
ho said he had nothing but what he had before said; 
whereupon all the regular premises being seen and un- 
derstood, it is considered by the court that the said John 
A. Murrell receive upon his bare back at the public whip- 
ping post in Davidson County, thirty lashes ; that he sit 
in the pillory two hours on Monday, two hours on Tues- 
day and two hours on Wednesday next; that he be 
branded on the left thumb with the letters 'H. T. ;' that 
he be imprisoned twelve months from this day, and be 
rendered infamous, and pay the costs of the prosecution ; 
and it is ordered that the Sheriff of Davidson County 
put the judgment as to whipping into execution imme- 
diately, and the branding on Wednesday next, in the 
presence of the court, and the said John A. Murrell is 
remanded to jail.'* 

John A. Murrell was the most celebrated criminal of 
his day, that being something over a generation before the 
Civil War. His pseudonym, 'The Great Land Pirate," 
came from the vast number of robberies which he was 
supposed to have committed. Horse stealing, negro 
stealing, highway robbery and murder were included in 
the offenses for which he is held responsible by Tennes- 
see traditions, the field of his operations extending from 
Tennessee to New Orleans and into Arkansas. It was 
even alleged that an organization of which he was the 
head had ramifications in many States, the membership 
including men of influence and standing, as a result of 



42 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

which a conviction of members of the clan was practi- 
cally impossible. It is tradition in Tennessee, too, that 
a favorite mode of operation with the astute freebooter 
was to essay the role of a preacher of the gospel at times, 
attend some largely attended religious gathering, and 
v/hile he exhorted, his confederates would make off with 
the horses of the assembled congregation. How much 
of this is true and how much legend no one now knows. 
He was finally sent to prison in Nashville for the crime 
of negro stealing. The Tennessee Supreme Court, sit- 
ting at Jackson affirming his sentence of ten years in 
1837. After his release from prison, he removed to 
Bledsoe County, where he died shortly afterwards. A 
tradition in connection with his death is that after his 
burial his head was removed from the body, and it was 
a legend years ago in Bledsoe County that his brain out- 
weighed that of Daniel Webster. 

Much of the information regarding this comes from a 
pamphlet written by Virgil Stewart, one of those instru- 
riiental in his final arrest, who claimed to have acquired 
It through pretending to join the clan. The statements 
recorded in the pamphlet were given credence by some; 
by others they were discredited. At the time of their 
publication they created a sensation throughout several 
Southern States. 

HE NAMED THE FLAG "OLD GLORY." 

For nearly fifty years the man who named the flag 
"Old Glory" made his home in Nashville, and dying here 
March 3, 1886^ he was laid to rest in the old City Cem- 
etery, where sleep many of Tennessee's most notable 
dead. The epitaph upon his tombstone reads : 

"His Ship! His Country! 
And His Flag, Old Glory!" 

Captain William Driver was born in Salem, Mass., on 
St. Patrick's Day, 1803. At the age of fourteen he ran 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 43 

away to sea. He was made master of the "Charles 
Doggett," which sailed from Salem in 1831 for New 
Zealand, and it was her flag which was christened "Old 
Glory." Capt Driver retired from the sea a few years 
later, coming to Nashville in 1837 to join his brothers, 
Henry and Joseph, who had settled here. He brought 
with him his flag, the original "Old Glory." On Febru- 
ary 27, 1862, following the occupation of Nashville by 
the Federal troops after Fort Donelson, the old flag was 
hoisted over the Capitol, supplanting the smaller flag of 
the Sixth Ohio. It remained there throughout the night. 
Today it is a highly prized relic in the Essex Institute. 

^ ^ ^ 



HORSE RACE OF MANY MISHAPS. 

Nashville, in 1855, was the scene of what was perhaps 
the most extraordinary horse race ever run — extraordi- 
nary not by reason of the time made, or the closeness of 
the finish, but because of the array of mishaps. The 
race was run September 29, on the old Walnut course, 
a track long since forgotten except by the more vener- 
able citizens of Nashville. The race was a three-mile 
heat race between W. T. Cheatham's chestnut gelding, 
Henry Perritt; Col. C. A. Hamilton's colt. Whirlwind, 
and W. W. Woodfolk's Iodine. Both Henry Perritt and 
Whirlwind were splendid horses. Iodine, according to 
contemporaneous accounts, being not so speedy. A 
great crowd was present. The first heat of the race 
went to Henry Perritt, after a close race with Whirl- 
wind, the time for the three miles being 5:47, the filly 
Iodine just saving her distance. 

Whirlwind on the next heat outstripped Henry Per- 
ritt, going the distance in 5:50, the filly again barely 
missing the flag. The great crowd for the third heat, 
which every one expected to be the deciding one, was 
all excitement. The heat began pretty much as had the 
others, with Henry Perritt and Whirlwind the chief con- 



44 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

tenders. In the second mile Whirlwind had the lead, 
with Henry Perritt close up and Iodine well behind. 
Suddenly the fireworks began. Whirlwind slipped and 
fell. Henry Perritt stumbled over him and likewise 
went down. Iodine's jockey, taking in the catastrophe 
which had befallen the leaders, raced to the front and 
past the struggling heap. The filly was nearly a mile 
avv^ay before the other two horses, gotten on their feet 
again with their jockeys helped back to the saddle, start- 
ed in the wake of Iodine. Whirlwind's jockey, however, 
was seen to be fainting, and bystanders caught his 
mount and retired him from the race. Henry Perritt 
meanwhile had gone in pursuit of Iodine. It was a long 
chase, but the game gelding managed to save his dis- 
tance^ the filly winning the heat in 6:27. 

For the fourth heat, Henry Perritt took the lead. His 
backers considered the race practically over, but the 
fleet racer promptly dampened their spirits by darting 
through a gap in the fence. While the horse was being 
gotten back on the track. Iodine once more raced to the 
front, taking a lead of half a mile before Henry Perritt 
was once more on the track. With the race all in her 
own hands, the filly passed the stand on the second mile 
and — promptly bolted. She jumped the fence, alighting 
on the other side in a group of negro onlookers. 

By the time she was on the track again Henry Perritt 
had made up his distance, and the two started neck and 
neck for the wire. Henry Perritt, as they raced on, 
knocked down a man and lost his stride, but picking up 
the lost distance, easily won the heat and race in a hand 
gallop. The time was never taken. 

It is a tradition that in this race of many mishaps one 
of the horses in bolting utterly demolished a bar, but all 
accounts do not so record it. It is a fact, however, that 
Henry Perritt as he was led to the stable, dropped dead. 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 45 



THE INDIAN WARD OF GEN. JACKSON. 

Among those who found a home at the historic Her- 
mitage during the Hfe of its heroic owner, the most not- 
able was Lyncoya, the son of a Creek chief, picked up a 
baby on one of Jackson's battlefields against the South- 
ern Indians. Practically all his life was spent there, and 
but for a change in administrations, the Indian boy 
would have gone thence to the Military Academy at 
West Point, to be instructed as a soldier. 

On November 3, 1813, after the battle of Tallushatches 
was gained by ''Old Hickory's" troops, an Indian child 
was found by a soldier on the field sucking at the breast 
of its dead mother. The child was taken to Jackson, 
who offered a reward to any of the captive squaws who 
would care for it. All refused, saying that as the child's 
mother and father were dead, it had better be killed also. 

The army at the time was in a destitute condition, and 
all that could be given the waif was a small quantity of 
brown sugar, biscuit crumbs and water. By this means 
the General and his servant Charles kept the Indian baby 
alive until it could be sent to Huntsville, Ala., where it 
was cared for by Col. Leroy Pope. His daughter, Ma- 
ria, gave the child its name, and he remained with the 
Pope family till the end of the Creek War, when, Jack- 
son returning home, resumed charge of the boy and car- 
ried him to the Hermitage. 

In time, Lyncoya became healthy and strong, thanks 
to the care he received at the hands of Mrs. Jackson. 
As a child, though^ his race tendencies were early mani- 
fested in a desire to dress his head with all the feathers 
he could find about the barnyard of the Hermitage. At 
five years he made himself a bow and was fairly pro- 
ficient with it on the Jackson poultry. At the age of 
eight he was sent to a neighboring school, but he was 
slow to learn during his first two years' attendance. 
After that time, however, his faculties seemed to awaken 
and he progressed rapidly, so rapidly that the General 
conceived the idea of making him a trained soldier. This 



46 It Happened in Nashville,. Tennessee. 

subject was discussed with President Monroe, who 
heartily approved it. Before the lad's education had 
sufficiently advanced for that, however, John Quincy Ad- 
ams and Henry Clay held the reigns of government, and 
from them Jackson's household could expect little. 

Gen. Jackson decided to allow the boy to indulge a 
mechanical turn, and in 1827 he was apprenticed to a 
Nashville saddler. During the following winter a cold 
settled on his lungs, and he was finally given a leave of 
absence to go home. Mrs. Jackson did everything pos- 
sible to prolong his life, but it was without avail. He 
died at the Hermitage June 1, 1828, aged sixteen. 

^ ^ ^ 



TWO DAYS' BATTLE ABOUT NASHVILLE. 

Nashville was the limit of Gen. John B. Hood's dash 
into Tennessee in 1864, that advance being marked by 
two bloody battles, the terrific fight at Franklin, twenty 
miles from Nashville, and the two days' conflict just 
beyond the Southern suburbs of Nashville itself. 

At Franklin, November 30, 1864, Hood assaulted the 
Union army under Gen. John M. Schofield behind works, 
the attack entailing heavy loss. The loss in officers was 
fearful. Maj. Gen. Cleburne, Brigadier Generals Gist, 
John Adams, Strahl and Granbery were killed; Maj. 
Gen. Brown, Brigadier Generals Carter, Manigault, 
Quarles, Cockrill and Scott were wounded, and Briga- 
dier General George W. Gordon, who died in 1911, Com- 
mander in Chief of the United Confederate Veterans, 
was captured. Schofield fell back on Nashville that 
night, the Confederates following and taking up a po- 
sition just outside the city. 

The fighting around Nashville occurred December 15 
and 16, between the southern suburbs and the range of 
hills to the south. For the first day's battle the Con- 
federate lines extended from the Nashville, Chattanooga 
& St. Louis Railway on the east to the Hillsboro Turn- 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 47 

pike on the west. For the second day the Confederate 
riiain Hne, greatly contracted, overlapped the Franklin 
Turnpike on the east and the Granny White Road on 
the West. George H. Thomas commanded the Union 
forces. He had been a Major in the Second Cavalry, 
organized in 1855, while Hood, the opposing general, 
was a Lieutenant in that regiment, and was once Thom- 
as' acting adjutant. 

Early on the morning of December 15 the citizens of 
Nashville were awakened by the roar of cannon from 
Forts Negley and Casino, announcing that Gen. Thomas 
had begun his attack on Hood's lines. On the right of 
the Confederate line was Gen. B. F. Cheatham. In the 
center was Gen. Stephen D. Lee, and on the left was 
Gen. A. P. Stewart. Against this formation Gen. James 
M. Steedman opposed Cheatham, with Gen. Schofield in 
reserve at the beginning of the fight. Thomas J. Wood's 
corps was in the center, and Gen. A. J. Smith, supported 
by a division of cavalry, was on the Union right. The 
battle opened with a demonstration against Cheatham on 
the Confederate right, notable figures in the fight there 
on the Union side being Charles H. Grosvenor, of Ohio, 
then a Lieutenant-Colonel, and William R. Shafter, the 
commander in 1898 in the Santiago campaign. This 
attack was easily beaten off. The real fighting for the 
first day was on the Confederate left, in the vicinity of 
the Hillsboro Turnpike, out which both the commands 
of Wood and Smith marched to the attack. Wood's 
corps, the Fourth, made a general assault, and meeting 
a heavy cannon fire, lay down to wait for Smith to 
complete his flank movement against Stewart's corps. 
Stewart's line just before sunset was forced back be- 
yond the Granny White Turnpike. 

It was necessary for the Confederates to form a new 
line in the rear of the position occupied during the day 
for Friday's battle. During the night Cheatham was 
removed to the Confederate left. Stewart was in the 
center. Lee's corps was the right of the army, one of 
the strong points occupied by his troops being a spur 



48 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

of the Overton Hills, on which a battery was mounted 
to sweep the Union lines. The fighting there was the 
most spectacular of the battle. Lee's part in the pro- 
gram was to hold the Franklin Pike. About 9 o'clock 
in the morning the Federal artillery opened a terrific 
fire on Lee's line, the fire continuing for two hours, 
when Gen. Sam Beatty's division of Thomas' army as- 
saulted. The Confederates reserved their fire until the 
enemy was within easy range, and then delivered it with 
fearful efifect. This attack was renewed several times, 
the Union forces approaching within thirty yards of 
Lee's line, to be driven back. The last assault occurred 
about 3 :30 o'clock in the afternoon ; like the others, be- 
ing beaten off. After the battle, dead men in some places 
lay five deep in front of the position. On the Confed- 
erate left heavy fighting was also in progress. In the 
morning the Confederate left was turned and the line 
driven back, but the old position was later gallantly re- 
taken and held. Along the whole line, throughout the 
day, the artillery of the two armies engaged in one of 
the fiercest duels of the war. 

In mid-afternoon the Confederate lines in the center, 
near the Granny White Turnpike, were pierced, the 
Union troops pouring through the gap. Col. William 
M. Shy^ of the Twentieth Tennessee, was killed there, 
the hill on which he died being named for him. Gen. 
Thomas Benton Smith, a Confederate Brigadier, was 
captured and after his capture slashed wantonly on the 
head, it is charged, the injury permanently impairing his 
mind and necessitating his confinem.ent in the asylum. 

With the line broken in the center and the Federals 
charging in, the Confederate left gave way too, and even 
Lee's troops were for the moment thrown into disorder. 
The latter were quickly rallied, however, and formed a 
heroic rear guard for the defeated army till Forrest re- 
joined the troops at Columbia. On December 17 Lee 
was wounded while guarding the rear. 

It is said that following the break in the Confederate 
line that the corps of both Stewart and Cheatham were 
practically disbanded, the men being told to look out 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 49 

for themselves and report at Brentwood, ten miles from 
Nashville. This is held up as an example of the remark- 
able loyalty of the Southern soldiers that practically all 
were there, many in rags and barefooted; there were 
few, if any desertions, though with the battle ended the 
Confederate hope of ever regaining Tennessee, and the 
defeat presaged the end. 

On the Confederate side Stephen D. Lee was a hero 
in the battle. It is thought by some that his work at 
Nashville and on the retreat was the best of his career 
as a soldier. 

In the battle of Nashville Gen. Hood claimed to have 
but 20,000 men effective. Quoting Sherman as author- 
it}% he placed Thomas* force at 82,000. On January 13, 
Gen. Hood telegraphed from Tupelo, Miss., asking to be 
relieved of the command of the army. 

^ ¥ ^ 



A LOCK OF "OLD HICKORY'S" HAIR. 

Deserving equal place with that tradition which con- 
cerns George Washington and the cherry tree, is that 
regarding Andrew Jackson and the British officer; the 
latter having captured the youthful Jackson after a raid 
in North Carolina during the Revolutionary War, and 
striking him with his sword when the lad refused to 
clean his jack boots. 

This story of courageous independence might pass for 
a mere historical incident were it not for an incident oc- 
curring at the Hermitage, near Nashville, in the sum- 
mer of 1843. The occasion was a visit to the old hero 
of New Orleans, then in the twilight of his days, from 
Rev. Hardy M. Cryer, a picturesque figure in the ante- 
bellum days of Sumner County. As Mr. Cryer was pre- 
paring to take his departure, he craved a small favor 
from the venerable resident of the Hermitage. It was 
that he might have a lock of the General's hair grown 
on the scar made by the sword of the British dragoon. 



50 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

The old Sumner Countian left this record of the inci- 
dent: 

*T obtained a lock of grey hair, growing on the very 
indenture, showing from its length and depth and the 
part of the head smitten that it was intended for a death 
blow." 

^ ¥ ^ 
THE GOLD BOX OF GEN. JACKSON. 

Turning back the pages of old Nashville newspapers, 
one may find in the journals of nearly a hundred years 
ago the following: 

"On Tuesday last (May 25, 1819), reached this place 
in the stage. Major Golden, son of Cadwallader Golden, 
Esqur., mayor of the city of New York. This young 
gentlemen is the bearer of the gold box and certificate of 
the freedom of the city, voted by the corporation to Maj. 
General Andrew Jackson. The certificate is executed in 
an elegant manner on parchment. Has on the right and 
left hand corners representations of Fame blazoning the 
word 'New Orleans,' the letters of which are encircled 
by a laurel wreath surrounded with rays. The Resolve 
of the Gommon Gouncil, voting the freedom of the city 
to the General, is preceded by the following preamble : 

" 'Whereas, the Gommon Council of the City of New 
York entertain a deep sense of the public services of 
Major General Andrew Jackson; as a testimonial of 
which, and wishing to transmit to posterity the respect 
they bear for his military achievements, the splendor of 
which is surpassed only by the great and lasting bene- 
fits they have secured to the United States, RESOLVE,* 
etc. The workmanship of the Gold Box does honor to 
the artist. Its weight and richness at once bespeak it a 
proper representative of the wealth and liberality of the 
wealthiest city in the Union. It is finished in the first 
style, and on a tablet in the center of the lid is engraved 
the following inscription: 'Presented by the Mayor, Al- 
dermen and Commonality of the City of New York, to 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 51 

Major General Andrew Jackson, with the freedom of 
the city, as a testimony of respect for his high mihtary 
services/ " 

This was not the last of the Gold Box, sometimes re- 
ferred to as the Gold Snuff Box, in which the voted free- 
dom of the city of the great metropolis was contained. 
Andrew Jackson was a figure whose fame was the prop- 
erty of the nation. In his will, to a patriotic degree he 
evidenced his appreciation of this fact. Some of the 
choicest mementoes of his service to his country, he 
treated as other than personal belongings. The Gold 
Box was among them. It was left in trust to his adopt- 
ed son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., with directions that should 
his country not be blessed with peace, an event not al- 
ways to be expected, the latter at the close of the war 
should present the Gold Box to that patriot, residing in 
the city from which it was presented, who should be 
adjudged by his countrymen to have been the most val- 
iant in defense of his country's rights. 

Gen. Jackson died in 1845, and the immediately suc- 
ceeding years witnessed the war with Mexico. It was 
not until the early part of 1849, however, that agitation 
began as to the heir to the Gold Box. Even then some 
years elapsed before there were definite developments. 
In 1857 a committee appointed by the Board of Council 
of New York City to award the Gold Box decided that 
it should be given to a certain Lieutenant-Colonel in a 
regiment of New York Volunteers. Andrew Jackson, 
Jr., according to family tradition, traveled to New York 
to make the presentation. But there was a hitch, the 
exact nature of which is not recorded, and the presenta- 
tion to the party named by the City Fathers of New 
York was not made. Finally, in 1859, the Gold Box 
found an heir. It was presented to Brevet-General 
Ward B. Burnett. The ceremony occurred in the City 
Hall of Nashville, Mayor Randall McGavock presiding. 
Something of a mystery is -suggested by the ceremony. 
Neither the soldier so honored nor the trustee of the 
Gold Box was present. Gen. Burnett was represented 



52 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

by Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, of Tennessee, Gen. Burnett 
being recorded as on duty as surveyor general of the 
territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Dr. John M. Law- 
rence spoke for his father-in-law, Andrew Jackson, Jr. 
It is possible that politics had played a part in the prev- 
ious deliberations of the New York Council, thus cast- 
ing a shadow upon an award that deserved to be, as it 
was planned by the great soldier, an interesting testi- 
monial to patriotism. 

^ * * 

GUNBOAT NASHVILLE OPENED A WAR. 

In the Revolutionary War a Tennessean, John Sevier, 
received a sword from the mother State, North Caro- 
lina, for his distinguished part in the battle of King's 
Mountain. 

In the War of 1812 a Tennessean, Andrew Jackson, 
largely with Tennessee troops, won the crowning victory 
of the war at New Orleans, fighting the best troops of 
the British army. 

In the Mexican War, Tennessee won her name of 
Volunteer State; 2,800 soldiers were called for as the 
State's quota, and 30,000 responded. 

In the Civil War, Tennessee furnished to the Con- 
federate army two lieutenant generals, eight major gen- 
erals, thirty-one brigadiers and 113,000 soldiers. To 
the Federal cause the State contributed 31,092 soldiers, 
exclusive of negroes, and one of the notable naval of- 
ficers of history, Farragut. 

A vessel named for the capital of Tennessee, the gun- 
boat Nashville, commanded by a Tennessean, Capt. 
Washburn Maynard, opened the Spanish-American War. 

The gun which fired the first shot is now on exhibi- 
tion in the History Building, at Centennial Park, Nash- 
ville. The shot was fired April 22, 1898, about eight 
miles south of Sand Key Light, off the coast of Florida, 
the target being the tramp freight steamer Buena Ven- 



It Happened in Nashville,, Tennessee. 53 

tura, hailing from Bilboa, Spain, bound from Pasca- 
goula, Miss., for Rotterdam with a cargo of lumber. 
First a blank was fired, which the Spaniard did not heed. 
Then a shot from a six pounder was sent by the Nash- 
ville across her bow^ at which the Buena Ventura hove 
to, a prize crew being sent aboard and the captive car- 
ried into Key West. 

The commander of the Nashville, Capt. Maynard, vis- 
ited Nashville that winter, coming on December 16 in 
company with Capt. Richmond P. Hobson, the hero of 
the Merrimac. A sword, the gift of the school children, 
was presented Capt. Maynard on that occasion, the for- 
mal presentation being made by Capt. Hobson. 

Maynard came of a noted East Tennessee family, be- 
ing a son of Horace Maynard, Postmaster General in 
Hayes' cabinet. 

^ ^ ¥ 



EVENTFUL VOYAGE OF "THE ADVENTURER." 

The permanent settlement on the banks of the Cum- 
berland, which was the beginning of Nashville, was 
largely the result of a voyage perhaps without a paral- 
lel in American history. The succeeding results of the 
voyage almost equalled those of the Mayflower's jour- 
ney, while the hardships endured and the dangers faced 
surpassed those to which even the Pilgrim Fathers were 
exposed. 

The expedition traversed the Holston River from 
Fort Patrick Henry, now Kingsport, Tenn., to its con- 
fluence with the Tennessee, down the Tennessee to its 
mouth, up the Ohio to the Cumberland, thence up the 
Cumberland to the site of Nashville. Following the 
meandering courses of the rivers, the courageous voy- 
agers crossed the States of Tennessee and Kentucky 
twice, dipped far down into Alabama, with still a final 
lap in Tennessee. Traveling on the same ground today 
by railroad and touching at the main points, the journey 



54 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

would be one of over 800 miles. Following the path of 
the streams, the distance traversed by the pioneers was 
over twice as great. The expedition, undertaken "by 
God's permission," started in midwinter, December 22, 
1779, and that particular winter was a very hard one. 
It is known as the "Cold Wmter." The treacherous 
places in the streams traversed — the sucks, the whirl- 
pools, the cross currents — were unknown to the voy- 
agers. The banks of the rivers were rank wilderness, 
infested with hostile Indians. The voyage, in fact, was 
made over twelve years before even Knoxville was laid 
out as a town. Before the mouth of the Cumberland was 
reached, and the arduous task of breasting its current 
was begun, the provisions had given out and the brave 
little company was subsisting on what game could be 
killed. 

This expedition brought a number of families, men, 
women and children, and their simple household goods, 
to join the hardy pioneers who had followed James 
Robertson overland through the wilderness from Wa- 
tauga to what was the favorite hunting ground of the 
Indians. Among the voyagers was James Robertson's 
wife. Another was the mother of Hon. Balie Peyton. 
Commanding the expedition was John Donelson, father 
of Andrew Jackson's wife-to-be, the young woman be- 
ing among those who made the journey over the waters. 
John Donelson's boat was fittingly styled "The Adven- 
ture," and the doughty captain kept a journal of the 
trip, which is today one of the most highly prized his- 
torical documents in Tennessee. 

The little fleet in the early stages of the journey was 
delayed by low water on the shoals, the party suffering 
much distress from cold. Near the site of Knoxville 
one of the boats was driven on the point of an island and 
sunk, the entire expedition being compelled to put ashore 
to save the unlucky craft and its cargo. Near what is 
now Kingston, Tenn., the first death occurred, that of 
a negro servant. Two days later, after experiencing 
much danger from the strong tide in the river, a land- 
ing was made at a deserted Indian town, where one of 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 55 

the women of the party was delivered of a child, which 
subsequently died. The voyagers by this time were far 
into the country of the Indians, and from that time until 
the Ohio was reached boats approaching too near to the 
shore were under fire of the savages. The first death 
from this source was that of a young man named Payne, 
an occupant of Capt. Blackemore's boat, which ran too 
near the north shore of the Tennessee River. The same 
day, March 8, a still more tragic misfortune befell the 
expedition in the 1 oss of the Stuart family and its 
friends, to the number of twenty-eight. 

"This man,'' says the journal of John Donelson, "had 
embarked with us for the western country, but his fam- 
ily being diseased with the smallpox, it was agreed upon 
between him and the company that he should keep at 
some distance in the rear, for fear of the infection 
spreading; and he was warned each night when the 
encampment should take place by the sound of a horn. 
After we had passed the town, the Indians having now 
collected to a considerable number, observing his help- 
less situation, singled off from the rest of the fleet, in- 
tercepted him and killed and took prisoner the whole 
crew, to the great grief of the whole company, uncer- 
tain how soon they might share the same fate; their 
cries were distinctly heard by those boats in the rear." 

There were yet. other trials for the voyagers that day. 
At a point where the river was compressed within half 
its customary width by the Cumberland Mountains, one 
boat was overturned and its cargo lost. When others 
went to the owner's assistance, they were promptly fired 
on by Indians from the overhanging cliffs and forced to 
beat a precipitate retreat. 

March 12 the company reached the Mussel Shoals of 
Tennessee River, the navigation of which was success- 
fully undertaken, though the boats were threatened with 
instant destruction constantly, and their occupants were 
terrified by the roar of the waters. Two days later the 
Indians appeared again, wounding five men, and during 
the night the party had to take to their boats, fearing a 
surprise. The mouth of the Tennessee was reached 



56 It Happened in Nashville^ Tennessee. 

March 15, 1780^ the stock of provisions being exhaust- 
ed, and the crews worn down with hunger and fatigue. 

"Saturday, 25th. — Today we are much encouraged; 
the river grows wider; the current is very gentle, and 
we are now convinced it is the Cumberland. I have de- 
rived great assistance from a small square sail which 
was fixed up on the day we left the mouth of the river; 
and to prevent any ill effects from sudden flaws of wind, 
a man was stationed at each of the lower corners of the 
sheet with directions to give way whenever it was nec- 
essary. 

"Monday, April 24th. — This day we arrived at our 
journey's end at the Big Salt Lick, where we have the 
pleasure of finding Capt. Robertson and his company. 
It is a source of satisfaction to us to be enabled to re- 
store to him and others their families and friends, who 
were entrusted to our care,, and who some time since, 
perhaps despaired of ever meeting again. Though our 
prospects at present are dreary, we have found a few 
log cabins which have been built on a cedar bluff above 
the lick, by Capt. Robertson and his company." 

Such was life in Nashville in the year 1780. 
* ^ ^ 

GIFT OF THE CHEROKEE PRINCESS. 

One of the most interesting curios in the Tennessee 
Historical Society collection at Nashville is a blue pitch- 
er, unostentatious in appearance, but a highly valued 
relic of other days in the State. The pitcher was pre- 
sented to Mrs. James K. Polk, wife of President Polk, 
by Lee-Sic, a Cherokee princess. Years ago, when East 
Tennessee was the home of the Cherokees, this was 
the "Pitcher of the Chiefs," and was made use of on 
occasions of state. Mrs. Polk presented the pitcher to 
the Historical Society, by which it is carefully preserved. 
A description of the pitcher is given in the following 
letter, which attended the original presentation to Mrs. 
Polk: 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 57 

"SHIN-BAYOU DISTRICT, Cherokee Nation, April 27, 1845. 

"Lee-Sic, a native Cherokee, wife of George W. 
Hunter, also a native and citizen of the Cherokee Na- 
tion, most respectfully presents her compliments and 
kind wishes to Mrs. Polk, wife of 'The Great Father 
of the Red Man,' and begs permission to present her 
with a blue pitcher which has been in their family more 
than half a century. It was used in the council at Hope- 
well in the year 1785, which concluded the long and 
bloody war between the United States and the Chero- 
kee tribe, by a treaty of peace which has never been 
broken by the Indians. It was called The Pitcher of 
tiie Chiefs,' and descended to them from Oken-stan- 
tali, the great king of all the Cherokees^ who kept his 
council fires continually burning at the city of Echota, 
called and meaning in the English language. The City 
of Love.' The seat of government at which the treaty 
of 1835 was negotiated, was named New Echota after 
this ancient city. 

"Oken-stan-tah, the last great king, terminated his 
reign in the year 1765. According to the ancient us- 
ages and customs of his tribe, his simple word was law, 
the dispenser of life and death. Any of his people who 
had forfeited their lives by the commission of crime, or 
an open enemy of the tribe, would could reach the sacred 
city, were safe within its precincts. 

'The antiquated pitcher, thus descended to the fam- 
ily who now has the right of bequeathing it, is here- 
with presented to Mrs. Polk, through the husband of 
the donor and her friends, General Mason and Colonel 
Stambaugh, with the sincere and ardent prayer that she 
may live long in prosperity and happiness, and that she 
may sometimes think kindly of the Cherokee people. 

"Lee Sic, "Wife of George W. Hunter. 
"To the Hon. Mrs. Polk, President's House, Washington City." 

(Foot note: According to Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, 
Echota was located on Tellico River, in East Tennessee. The 
chief referred to in the above letter was probably O-ka-na-sto- 
ta, the distinguished Cherokee who visited England during 
the reign of George II.) 



58 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 



THE OVERLAND MAIL. 

Aaron V. Brown, a former governor of Tennessee, 
was the last Tennessean to occupy a seat in a Presi- 
den's cabinet before the war. He was Postmaster Gen- 
eral under Buchanan, and it was during his administra- 
tion of the department's affairs that the great transcon- 
tinental mail service — Butterfield's Overland — was in- 
augurated between the Mississippi River and San Fran- 
cisco. The former country seat of Aaron V. Brown, 
near Nashville, known as Melrose, continues one of 
the handsomest places about the city, being located a 
little way off the Nolensville Road. The Brown home 
at Washington was the former residence of the French 
Minister, Count de Sarteges. The contract for the over- 
land mail service was awarded by the Post Office De- 
partment July 1, 1857, the figure being $590,000 for a 
semi-weekly service. John Butterfield headed the private 
company which received the contract. The route as put 
in operation had for its eastern termini St. Louis and 
Memphis, the two branches forming a junction at Fort 
Smith, going thence in the direction of Preston on Red 
River, thence to Fort Fillmore, above El Paso on the 
Rio Grande, thence along a road being constructed to 
Fort Yuma on Colorado River, and thence through Te- 
hon Pass to Frisco. The length of the route was be- 
tween 2,700 and 2,800 miles. There was danger from 
the Indians. There was great inconvenience from the 
lack of water in the desert, the company having to for- 
ward that precious commodity to its stations in the waste 
places. Many of the horses drawing the first stage had 
never borne harness till put to the coach, and it is easy 
to imagine that the six travelers, occupying the coach on 
the first trip, had their share of thrills as the unbroken 
mustangs ahead of the rocking Concord scampered 
across plains, through mountain passes or along the edge 
of gaping ravines. 

The first mail arrived in St. Louis from San Francisco 
Saturday, October 9, 1858, though it was not due till 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 59 

the following Monday morning. Its arrival was the oc- 
casion of a celebration, a procession of citizens, headed 
by a band, escorting the coach to the post office. John 
Butterfield sent telegrams to President Buchanan and 
to the Postmaster General announcing the triumphant 
arrival of the coach ahead of time. The message to 
Buchanan read: 

Jefferson City, Mo., Oct. 9, 1858. 
"To the President of the United States : 
"Sir: The great Overland Mail arrived in St. Louis 
today from San Francisco in twenty-three days and four 
hours. The stage brought through six passengers. 
With great respect. John Butterfield, 

"President Overland Mail Co." 

Postmaster General Brown received extraordinary 
praise as a result of the successful launching of the 
stupendous undertaking. He might have been a presi- 
dential possibility for 1860 had he lived. He died in 
1859, and is buried in Nashville. The great Overland 
stage line did not survive the war. A million dollars 
was lost by the proprietors during its operation. 

* * ^ 



NASHVILLE IN A RECEIVER'S HANDS. 

Nashville is one of the few cities ever thrown into 
the hands of a receiver. The receivership was sought 
not because of the corporation's financial disability, but 
because of mismanagement and extravagance on the 
part of the men in office — known to fame as the Alden 
ring. E. A. Alden was Mayor, and the regime was of 
the so-called "carpet-bag" variety, a type familiar dur- 
ing the Reconstruction period which followed the Civil 
War. 

The late John M. Bass, on June 28, 1869, took charge 
of the city's affairs as receiver under an order issued by 



60 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Chancellor Charles G. Smith, dated at Gallatin, where 
the application had lately been heard. 

Prominent in the movement to have the city thrown 
into the hands of a receiver was the late Col. Arthur S. 
Colyar, of Nashville, who had been a member of the 
Confederate Congress from Tennessee. On May 22, 
1869, Col. Colyar addressed the citizens of Nashville at 
the old Masonic Theatre, alleging that over $700,000 
had been issued by the Alden government without vouch- 
ers. On June 2, he filed his bill at Clarksville, Chan- 
cellor Smith granting an injunction against the Record- 
er issuing and the Revenue Collector and Treasurer re- 
ceiving checks. For the faithful execution of the trust, 
Mr. Bass was called upon to give a bond of $100,000. 
The bond was liberally signed, indeed the list of bonds- 
men might be taken as an honor roll of Nashville's citi- 
zenship at the time of the proceeding. Mr. Bass and 
his agents administered the city government economi- 
cally and well. By the time his administration ended, 
the citizens, before disfranchised on account of the Civ- 
il War, had had the franchise restored to them, and elect- 
ed a city government to their own liking. At the time 
of the procedure, neither in England nor the United 
States had a receiver ever been appointed to take charge 
of an incorporated city. 

* ^ * 



NASHVILLE SAVED BY THE DOGS. 

A marble tablet erected upon the side of the First Na- 
tional Bank Building, at the corner of Fourth Avenue, 
North and Church Street, in Nashville, perpetuates the 
fame of those who fell in defense of the settlement on 
Cumberland River in one of early Nashville's most des- 
perate Indian fights — the Battle of the Bluffs. 

On April 2, 1781, a large band of Cherokees made a 
determined attadc upon the fort which stood upon the 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 61 

bluff on the west side of the river, the site adjoining the 
foot of Church Street. Their plan of attack was care- 
fully made, the main body, in the night, secreting them- 
selves in ambuscade about the little fort. In the early 
morning three ventured in sight of the fort and fired 
on it. The settlers quickly responded, a party of nine- 
teen or twenty horsemen dashing out of the fort gates 
in pursuit. Near the present corner of Broadway and 
Third Avenue they discovered many Indians secreted 
in the thickets bordering a creek, and at once dismounted 
to fight them. Another large party of Indians lay in am- 
bush along what is now Fourth Avenue, prepared to cut 
off their retreat and rush on the fort. When the battle 
began to rage about the creek, this second body of In- 
dians rose with a war whoop from the bushes and dashed 
forward, forming a line that entirely cut off from the 
fort the little band of fighters. The settlement seemed 
doomed. The horses of the whites, however, mean- 
while free of their riders, and frightened by the dis- 
charge of many guns, dashed off, taking a course near 
the line of Indians in the rear. At the sight of so many 
coveted horses almost within their reach, many war- 
riors left their places in the line to chase them. 

Mrs. Robertson, wife of the founder of the settle- 
ment, Gen. James Robertson, from the fort had wit- 
nessed the perilous predicament of her husband and 
his followers. She saw, too, the diversion caused by 
the horses. 

"Let loose the dogs!" she cried from the lookout sta- 
tion over the fort gate to those below her. The animals, 
trained to attack Indians, rushed forth to the fray, at- 
tacking a part of the line that had held fast. Fiercely 
beset in this new quarter, the savages, who were pre- 
pared to cut off the fighters along the creek, were forced 
to protect themselves from the fury of the dogs. The 
little party of whites along the creek quickly took ad- 
vantage of the Indian disorder occasioned by the faith- 
ful dogs. Making for that point in the Indian line 
which the warriors had left to pursue the horses, they 
succeeded in passing through and reaching the fort. 



62 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

But for the timely attack of the dogs, the little party 
could not have escaped death. 

Several, as it was, were killed, among them Capt. 
James Leiper, accredited with being the first man mar- 
ried in the settlement. But the majority of them — 
among them James Robertson — were saved, as was the 
little fort. The work of the dogs ! 

"Thanks be to God, who gave to the Indians a dread 
of dogs and a love for horses," Mrs. Robertson ex- 
claimed as her husband, begrimed from the fight, but 
safe, entered the fort with his stalwart followers. 

^ ^ ^ 

HOOD'S TRIBUTE TO A GIRL. 

On the second day of the battle of Nashville, Decem- 
ber 16, 1864, there occurred an incident which Gen. John 
B. Hood, commander of the Confederate army in the 
two days' fight, has seen fit to record in his "Advance 
and Retreat." About 3 :30 o'clock in the afternoon, the 
Confederate line gave way. Soon after according to 
the Confederate commander, it broke at all points, and 
much of the army abandoned the field in confusion. 

Hood relates the incident referred to above in the fol- 
lowing language: 

"When our troops were in the greatest confusion, a 
young lady of Tennessee, Miss Mary Bradford, rushed 
in their midst, regardless of the storm of bullets, and in 
the name of God and our country, implored them to re- 
form and face the enemy. Her name deserves to be en- 
rolled among the heroes of the war, and it is with pride 
that I bear testimony to her bravery and patriotism." 

Order among the troops, however, was not restored 
until the village of Brentwood was reached, some miles 
in the rear. 

The heroine of the day became the wife of the late 
John Johns, a prominent citizen of Nashville, and she 
is today (1912) a widely beloved resident of Nashville. 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 63 



SAM DAVIS, THE BOY HERO. 

"Headquarters, Gen. Bragg's Scouts, Middle Tennes- 
see, Sept. 25, 1863. Samuel Davis has permission to 
pass on scouting duty anywhere in Middle Tennessee 
or south of the Tennessee River he may think proper. 
By order of Gen. Bragg. — E. Coleman, Captain Com- 
manding Scouts." 

Sam Davis, his commander, Capt. H. B. Shaw (Cole- 
man), and others of the detachment of Bragg's scouts 
had had a very successful but very hazardous sojourn 
in Middle Tennessee. They had watched Gen. G. M. 
Dodge's corps of the Union army, the Sixteenth, march 
from Corinth, Miss., to Pulaski, Tenn., and had accu- 
rate information as to the strength of the Federal forces 
in Tennessee, their movements, and descriptions of the 
works at Nashville and other points. The scouts had 
agreed to leave for the South on the night of November 
19 to rejoin Bragg's army. 

Late in the afternoon of November 19 a handful of 
them, including Sam Davis, about fifteen miles from 
Pulaski, Tenn., ran into the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, 
the ''Kansas Jayhawkers," were taken prisoner and car- 
ried to Pulaski, Gen. Dodge's headquarters. In Sam 
Davis' saddle seat were found records of the important 
information gained by the scouts in their expedition; 
and in his boot a letter from "Coleman" to Col. A. M. 
McKinstry, Provost Marshal of Bragg's army. Davis, 
a youth of twenty-one, was questioned by Dodge's pro- 
vost marshal, Capt. W. F. Armstrong, who, gaining no 
information, sent him to the General's headquarters at 
once. The General and the scout had another interview 
the next morning, in which the former told the boy sol- 
dier that the charge against him, of being a spy, was 
very serious, that he had obtained possession of very 
accurate information of the Federal army, and he 
(Dodge) must know how he obtained it. Young Davis 
realized the seriousness of the situation, but he declared 



64 It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 

he was willing to take the consequences. Gen. Dodge 
insisting on knowing the name of the person from whom 
he had gotten the information, expressed the belief that 
it must have come from some one near headquarters, 
or one who had the confidence of his staff. A refusal 
to give the name, Gen. Dodge said, would necessitate 
the calling of a court martial, and from the proof in the 
commander's hands there could be but one verdict — 
death. 

The young soldier resolutely refused to tell the source 
of the information. The court martial was forthwith 
called, the detail being headed by Col. Madison Miller, 
of the Eighteenth Missouri Infantry. There were two 
charges against Davis: being a spy and carrying com- 
munications from within the Union lines to persons in 
arms against the United States government. To the 
charge of being a spy, Davis pleaded not guilty. To the 
second charge he pleaded guilty. The military com- 
mission found him guilty of both, and sentenced him 
to die on the gallows November 27, 1863. The boy was 
surprised at the severity of the punishment. He had 
expected to be shot. His resolution, however, was not 
shaken. On November 26, he wrote telling his mother 
good-bye. That night Chaplain James Young, of the 
Eighty-First Ohio, was with him in his prison, giving 
him spiritual comfort, and joined him in singing the 
old-fashioned hymn, "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I 
stand." The next morning his fellow-scouts, impris- 
oned, heard the roll of drums and the tramp of the regi- 
ment detailed for the execution. As they looked, Davis 
was marched out from the jail, mounted the wagon, 
nodded his head to the captive comrades who were 
watching him, and rode away to the place of execution, 
seated on his coffin. 

At the scaffold, Capt. Armstrong told him of the 
Confederates' defeat at Missionary Ridge. 

"The boys will have to fight their battles without me," 
he replied simply. 

The Union soldiers, full of admiration of the boy's 
calm courage, would willingly have saved him if they 



It Happened in Nashville, Tennessee. 65 

could, and *'Capt. Chickasaw," of Dodge's scouts, still 
hoping that the boy, facing death, might weaken, dashed 
up and told him it was not even then too late to save 
his Hfe. 

**If I had a thousand lives, I would lose them all here 
before I would betray my friends or the confidence of 
my informer," was his answer. 

It was Capt. Shaw from whom he received the papers 
to carry South. Shaw, among the captive scouts in the 
Fulaski courthouse, the most sought of all the Confeder- 
ate scouts by the Federals, knew of the offers of life held 
out to Davis and had been nervous himself, for if Davis 
told, Shaw's death was certain. But the boy soldier did 
not fail him. He went to his death without faltering in 
the line of duty, and Shaw, his identity unknown, was 
simply sent North to prison. 

To S. A. Cunningham, editor of the Confederate Vet- 
eran, is due much of the credit for revivifying the story 
of Sam Davis' heroism^ and that story revived, after the 
war's bitterness was over, found a ready response in 
every heart that admired courage or honored loyalty. 
Tennessee offered a site for his monument on Capitol 
Hill, at Nashville, where before only her Presidents had 
been honored. Contributions for the monument, which 
was unveiled in 1909, came from every State in the 
Union. One came from Gen. Dodge, who in giving it 
declared that Davis had shown himself a true soldier. 
"He had been intrusted," he said, ''with an important 
commission by an important officer, who was impris- 
oned with him, and died rather than betray him." 

The body of Sam Davis was carried to his old home 
at Smyrna, twenty miles from Nashville, where he sleeps 
with his fathers. He had enlisted in the army at the 
outbreak of the war in Ledbetter's company of the First 
Tennessee infantry, and died a private. 



MAy 6 iisu 



ID 



X 



■f-^^-^' ".^ll^^ '•^js.i'i' 













•K-, <:^ 



















>-,/ 



DOBBS BROS. , 4 

LIBRARY BiNOING ^ Q» 

)CT 7 ^""^ 

ST. AUGUSTINE 






,; — 






